man  Destiny  and  Policies 


.   :  --;;    -;:.^  ;ps 


LIBRAKY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNiA 

SAN  DIEGO 


1 


Xfc 


Treitschke 

His  Doctrine  of  German  Destiny 

and  of 

International   Relations 


Together  with 
A  Study  of  His  Life  and  Work  by 

Adolf  Hausrath 

For  the  First  Time  Translated  into  English 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 
New  York  and  London 
fmfcfterbocker  press 
1914 


COPYRIGHT,  1914 

BY 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S   SONS 


Ub€  ftnfclterbocfcer  press,  flew  IJorh 


FOREWORD 

national  movements  and  national 
passions  or  enthusiasms  since  the  Middle 
Ages  have  always  been  connected  with  the  names 
of  leaders  (preachers,  writers,  or  statesmen) ,  and  not 
infrequently,  with  that  of  one  particular  leader 
whose  words  have  acted  upon  the  people  as  an 
inspiration,  and  who  has  given  the  keynote  and 
character  to  the  movement.  It  is  probable 
(Carlyle  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding)  that 
each  of  these  national  movements  would  have 
taken  place,  even  although  the  particular  individ- 
ual and  leader  had  not  existed.  When,  however, 
a  revolution  or  an  outbreak  of  any  kind  shapes 
itself  on  the  lines  of  some  given  teaching,  it  is 
proper  to  study  the  character  and  the  doctrines  of 
the  teacher.  The  history  of  the  French  Revolu- 
tion could  not  be  considered  without  analysis  of 
Rousseau  and  his  writings,  and,  in  like  manner, 
the  present  action  of  Germany,  which  amounts  to 
a  revolution,  in  initiating  the  European  War  of 
1914,  will  always  be  connected  in  history  with  the 
teachings  of  Treitschke.  Americans  are  called 
upon  at  this  time  to  arrive  at  an  opinion  in  regard 
to  the  causation  of  the  war,  the  nature  of  the 
issues  that  are  being  fought  over,  and  the  factors 

iii 


iv  Foreword 

which  are  influencing  the  combatants.  It  is 
important,  on  more  grounds  than  one,  to  arrive 
at  an  understanding  of  the  influences  which  are 
directing  the  present  policy  of  Germany,  and  which 
have  imbued,  not  only  the  Imperial  Government, 
but  the  mass  of  Germans  back  of  the  Emperor 
and  his  counsellors,  with  the  craze  for  world 
domination  and  with  the  conviction  that  it  is 
their  duty  to  enforce  German  Kultur  (a  very 
different  thing  from  what  we  understand  by 
culture)  upon  all  civilized  communities. 

Treitschke  has  been  called  "the  Machiavelli  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century,"  but  his  words  were 
directed  not  only  to  monarchs  and  to  other  leaders 
of  the  State,  but  to  the  people  as  a  whole.  The 
greed  for  domination  dates  from  the  time  when 
Treitschke  began  to  write  and  to  lecture  on  na- 
tional politics  and  on  German  ideals.  The  cry 
of  DeutsMand  uber  alles  was  to  him  more  than  an 
ideal,  it  was  a  religion,  and  through  his  forcible 
teaching  it  has  become  the  burning  faith  of  the 
nation  as  a  whole.  Throughout  the  whole  of 
Treitschke's  writings  his  conviction  of  the  neces- 
sity for  the  supremacy  of  Germans  over  all  other 
peoples  is  enforced  with  all  the  vigour  and  skill  at 
his  command.  To  England  he  directs  his  most 
venomous  outpouring.  "English  policy,"  says 
Treitschke,  "which  aims  at  the  unreasonable  goal 
of  world  supremacy,  has  always,  as  its  foundation 
principle,  reckoned  on  the  misfortunes  of  other 
nations. " 


Foreword  v 

It  seems  evident  that  the  instigation  to  the 
curious  hate  of  England  and  to  the  conviction  that 
for  the  development  of  Germany  the  destruction 
of  the  British  Empire  was  essential,  is  due  to 
Treitschke.  He  died,  in  Berlin,  in  1896,  and  it  is 
his  pupils,  the  middle-aged  men  of  to-day,  Bern- 
hardi  and  others,  who  have  planned  the  present 
fight  of  Germany  for  the  domination  of  Europe. 
Bismarck  was  Treitschke's  valued  friend,  and 
William  II  has  been  nurtured  on  his  teachings. 
These  teachings  give  the  philosophy  for  the  present 
political  and  military  action.  The  essays  con- 
tained in  this  volume  present  the  opinions  of 
Treitschke  on  the  policy  and  the  destiny  of  Ger- 
many, while  the  critical  biography,  written  with 
the  full  sympathy  of  a  close  friend,  gives  an  insight 
into  the  character  of  the  man  himself. 

Professor  J.  H.  Morgan  says: 

"If  Treitschke  was  a  casuist  at  all  (and  as  a 
rule  he  is  refreshingly,  if  brutally,  frank),  his  was 
the  supreme  casuistry  of  the  doctrine  that  the 
end  justifies  the  means.  That  the  means  may 
corrupt  the  end  or  become  an  end  in  themselves 
he  never  fairly  realized.  He  honestly  believed 
that  war  was  the  nurse  of  manly  sentiment  and 
heroic  enterprise.  He  feared  the  commercialism 
of  modern  times,  and  despised  England  because 
he  judged  her  wars  to  have  been  always  under- 
taken with  a  view  to  the  conquest  of  markets. 
He  sneers  at  the  Englishman  who  'scatters  the 
blessings  of  civilization  with  a  Bible  in  one  hand 


vi  Foreword 

and  an  opium  pipe  in  the  other.'  He  honestly 
believed  that  Germany  exhibited  a  purity  of 
domestic  life,  a  pastoral  simplicity,  and  a  deep 
religious  faith  to  which  no  European  country 
could  approach.  He  has  written  passages  of 
noble  and  tender  sentiment,  in  which  he  celebrates 
the  piety  of  the  peasant,  whose  religious  exercises 
were  hallowed  wherever  the  German  tongue  was 
spoken,  by  the  massive  faith  in  Luther's  great 
hymn.  Those  who  would  understand  the  strength 
of  Treitschke's  influence  on  his  generation  must  not 
lose  sight  of  these  purer  elements  in  his  teachings. 
He  was  the  first  preacher  of  the  doctrine  that 
Germany  must  become  a  power  across  the  sea. 
He  became  indeed  the  champion  of  the  Junkers, 
and  his  history  is  a  kind  of  hagiography  of  the 
Hohenzollerns.  He  rested  his  hopes  for  Germany 
on  the  bureaucracy  and  the  army.  By  a  quite 
natural  transition  he  was  led  on  from  his  champion- 
ship of  the  unity  of  Germany  to  a  conception  of 
her  role  as  a  world-power.  He  is  the  true  father  of 
WeUpolitik" 

Like  Mommsen,  Treitschke  insisted  that  the 
people  of  the  conquered  provinces  must  be  "forced 
to  be  free, "  that  Morality  and  History  (which  for 
him  are  much  the  same  thing)  proclaim  they  are 
German  without  knowing  it.  He  says: 

"  We  Germans,  who  know  Germany  and  France, 
know  better  what  is  good  for  Alsace  than  the 
unhappy  people  themselves  who  through  their 
French  associations  have  lived  in  ignorance  of  the 


Foreword  vii 

new  Germany.  We  have  in  the  enormous  changes 
of  these  times  too  often  seen  in  glad  astonishment 
the  immortal  working  of  the  moral  forces  of 
History  ('das  unsterbliche  Fortwirken  der  sittlichen 
Mdchte  der  Geschichte'}  to  be  able  to  believe  in  the 
unconditional  value  on  this  matter  of  a  Referen- 
dum. We  invoke  the  men  of  the  past  against  the 
present." 

The  ruthless  pedantry  of  this  is  characteristically 
Prussian.  It  is  easy  to  appeal  to  the  past  against 
the  present,  to  the  dead  against  the  living.  Dead 
men  tell  no  tales.  Treitschke  admitted  that  the 
Alsatians  did  not  love  the  Germans;  there  was, 
he  ruefully  confessed,  something  rather  unlovely 
about  the  civilizing  methods  of  Prussia. 

Lord  Acton,  writing  in  1 886,  pronounced 
Treitschke  to  be  "the  one  writer  of  history  who 
was  more  brilliant  and  more  powerful  than  Droy- 
sen."  "He  writes,"  says  Acton,  "with  the  force 
and  fire  of  Mommsen,  and  he  accounts  for  the 
motives  that  stir  a  nation  as  well  as  for  the  councils 
that  govern  it." 

One  of  Treitschke's  pupils  writes  of  him:  "His 
style  is  full  of  colour  and  of  movement;  it  is 
brilliant  and  thought-abounding;  nervous,  ener- 
getic feeling  swings  the  reader  along,  while  vast 
learning  is  digested  and  bent  to  the  purposes  of  the 
author. "  Germans  quote  Treitschke  as  no  histo- 
rian has  ever  been  quoted  by  English  or  by  French; 
one  may  say  that,  in  the  interpretation  of  history, 
Treitschke  is  to  the  present  generation  of  Germans 


viii  Foreword 

an  inspired  scripture,  a  bible.  The  political 
leaders  refer  to  him  as  final  authority.  Treitschke, 
at  his  death,  looked  forward  with  confidence  to 
the  day  when  the  world  would  find  healing  at  the 
touch  of  the  German  character.  "God  will  see 
to  it  that  war  always  recurs  as  a  drastic  medicine 
for  the  human  race."  Says  Treitschke's  pupil 
Bernhardi :  "War  is  essential  not  merely  as  a  means 
to  political  ambition  and  territorial  aggrandize- 
ment, but  as  a  moral  discipline,  almost  in  fact  as 
a  spiritual  inspiration. " 

Treitschke  had  a  keen  dislike  and  distrust  for 
America.  He  says,  "Germany  can  learn  nothing 
from  the  United  States."  This  is  a  natural 
utterance  for  a  man  who  was  the  fiercest  opponent 
in  his  generation  of  democracy  and  of  democratic 
institutions. 

Treitschke's  pupil  Clausewitz  quotes  his  master 
as  saying  in  substance:  "Self-imposed  restrictions, 
almost  imperceptible  and  hardly  worth  mention- 
ing, termed  Usages  of  International  Law,  accompany 
violence  without  essentially  impairing  its  value. " 

In  the  introduction  to  the  Politik,  Treitschke 
says  in  regard  to  the  sanctity  of  war:  "It  is  to  be 
conceived  as  an  ordinance  set  by  God.  It  is  the 
most  powerful  maker  of  nations;  it  is  politics 
par  excellence. "  "  What  a  perversion  of  morality, ' ' 
says  Treitschke,  "it  would  be  if  one  struck  out  of 
humanity  heroism"  (Heldentuni).  But  Treitsch- 
ke's Heldentum  is  a  different  thing  from  what 
the  civilized  world  has  understood  as  heroism, 


Foreword  ix 

He  forgets  the  caution  of  his  contemporary  Momm- 
sen,  who  says:  "Have  a  care,  lest  in  this  State, 
which  has  been  at  once  a  power  in  arms  and  a 
power  in  intelligence,  the  intelligence  should 
vanish,  and  there  should  remain  nothing  but  the 
pure  military  condition."  The  fruits  of  Helden- 
tum  are  Louvain  smoking  in  ashes  to  the  sky. 
The  philosophy  of  Treitschke  is  to-day  the 
philosophy  of  the  Prussian  Government  and  of 
Germany  behind  Prussia;  it  is  the  philosophy 
under  which  the  attempt  is  being  made  to  crush 
France  and  to  break  up  the  British  Empire.  It 
is  the  teaching  that  has  desolated  Belgium  and  that 
has  brought  war  upon  the  world. 

GEO.  HAVEN  PUTNAM. 
November  15,  1914. 


CONTENTS 

PACK 

THE  LIFE  OF  TREITSCHKE     .  i 

THE  ARMY 137 

INTERNATIONAL  LAW     .         .         .         .         .158 

FIRST  ATTEMPTS  AT  GERMAN  COLONIZATION  .  195 

Two  EMPERORS    ......  217 

GERMANY  AND  NEUTRAL  STATES    .         .         .  236 

AUSTRIA  AND  THE  GERMAN  EMPIRE       .         .  249 

THE  ALLIANCE  BETWEEN  RUSSIA  AND  PRUSSIA  276 

FREEDOM      .                  302 


xi 


Treitschke:   A   Study  of  His 
Life  and  Work. 


i. 


THERE  are  some  names  which  we  instinctive- 
ly connect  with  eternal  youth.  Those  of 
Achilles  and  Young  Siegfried  we  cannot  conceive 
otherwise  than  as  belonging  to  youth  itself.  If 
amongst  the  more  recent  ones  we  count  Hoelty, 
Theodore  Koerner,  and  Novalis  the  divine  youth, 
this  is  due  to  death  having  overtaken  them  while 
yet  young  in  years.  But  if  involuntarily  we  also 
include  Heinrich  von  Treitschke,  the  reason  for  it 
lies  not  in  the  age  attained  by  him  but  in  his 
unfading  freshness.  Treitschke  died  at  the  age 
of  sixty-two,  older  or  nearly  of 'the  same  age  as 
his  teachers — Hausser,  Mathy,  and  Gervinus,  all 
of  whom  we  invariably  regard  as  venerable  old 
men.  And  yet  he  seemed  to  us  like  Young  Sieg- 
fried with  his  never  ageing,  gay  temperament, 
his  apparently  inexhaustible  virility.  To  his 
students  he  seemed  new  at  every  half  term,  and 
living  amongst  young  people  he  remained  young 
with  them.  Hopeful  of  the  future  and  possessed 


2  Treitschke 

of  a  fighting  spirit,  he  retained  within  him  the 
joy  and  sunshine  of  eternal  youth.  Thus  Death, 
when  he  came,  appeared  not  as  an  inexorable 
gleaner  gathering  the  withered  blades  in  the  barn 
of  his  Lord,  but  rather  as  a  negligent  servant  de- 
stroying in  senseless  fashion  a  rare  plant  which 
might  yet  have  yielded  much  delicious  fruit. 

We  cannot,  therefore,  call  it  a  happy  inspiration 
which  prompted  the  representation  of  Treitschke 
as  a  robed  figure  in  the  statue  about  to  be  erected 
in  the  University  in  Berlin. 

It  is,  of  course,  not  the  figure  of  a  Privy  Coun- 
cillor, who  has  assumed  some  resemblance  with 
Gambetta,  but  that  of  a  tall,  distinguished-looking 
strong  youth,  with  elastic  muscles,  whose  every 
movement  attests  health  and  virility,  a  figure  such 
as  students  and  citizens  were  wont  to  see  in  Leip- 
zig and  Heidelberg,  and  which  would  have  served 
an  artist  as  the  happiest  design  for  monumental 
glorification.  But  to  represent  the  opponent  of 
all  academic  red-tapeism  in  robe  is  analogous 
with  Hermann  Grimm's  proposal  to  portray  the 
first  Chancellor  of  the  German  Empire  as  Napoleon 
in  the  Court  of  the  Brera — that  is  to  say,  in  the 
full  nude.  Nevertheless,  we  greet  with  joy  the 
high-spirited  decision  to  honour  Treitschke  by  a 
statue.  In  the  same  way  as  the  name  of  Hutten 
will  be  connected  with  the  revolt  against  the  Pope, 
and  the  name  of  Koerner  with  that  against  Na- 
poleon, so  the  name  of  Treitschke  will  always  be 
connected  with  the  redemption  of  our  people 


His  Life  and  Work  3 

from  the  disgrace  of  the  times  of  Confederation 
to  the  magnificence  of  1870. 

It  was  in  August,  1863,  that  I  heard  the  name  of 
Treitschke  for  the  first  time,  when,  before  an 
innumerable  audience,  he  spoke  at  the  Gymnastic 
Tournament  in  Leipzig,  in  commemoration  of  the 
Battle  of  Leipzig.  A  youth  of  twenty-nine,  a 
private  University  lecturer,  and  the  son  of  a 
highly-placed  officer  related  to  Saxon  nobility, 
he  proclaimed  with  resounding  force  what  in  his 
family  circle  was  considered  demagogical  machina- 
tion and  enmity  against  illustrious  personages, 
and  as  such  was  generally  tabooed.  But  the 
principal  idea  underlying  his  argument — that 
what  a  people  aspires  to  it  will  infallibly  attain — 
found  a  respondent  chord  in  many  a  breast;  and 
I,  like  many  another  who  read  the  verbatim  report 
of  the  speech  in  the  South  German  Journal 
Braters,  resolved  to  read  in  future  everything  put 
into  print  by  this  man. 

We  were  overjoyed  when,  in  the  autumn  of 
1 863,  the  Government  of  Baden  appointed  Treitsch- 
ke as  University  Deputy  Professor  for  Political 
Science.  It  was  so  certain  that  at  the  same  time 
he  would  give  historic  lectures  that,  on  hearing 
of  Treitschke 's  appointment,  Wegele  of  Wurzburg 
— who  had  already  accepted  the  position  of  Pro- 
fessor of  History  at  Freiburg — immediately  asked 
to  be  released  from  his  engagement,  as  henceforth 
he  could  no  longer  rely  on  securing  pupils.  The 
new  arrival  was  pleased  with  his  first  impressions 


4  Treitschke 

of  Baden.  From  his  room  he  overlooked  green 
gardens  stretching  towards  the  River  Munster. 
In  the  University  he  gave  lectures  on  politics  and 
on  the  Encyclopaedia  of  Political  Science ;  but  before 
a  much  larger  audience  he  spoke  in  the  Auditory 
of  Anatomy,  and  later  on  in  the  Aula,  on  German 
History,  the  History  of  Reformation,  and  similar 
subjects,  creating  a  sensation  not  only  at  the 
University  but  also  in  Society.  It  was  his  phe- 
nomenal eloquence — not  North-German  verbosity, 
but  fertility  of  thought  surging  with  genius  and 
flowing  like  an  inexhaustible  fountain — which 
drew  his  audience  at  public  lectures  and  festivities. 
His  success  with  students  gave  him  less  cause  for 
gratification.  Possibly  Science,  on  which  he 
lectured  for  practically  the  first  time,  offered  in- 
adequate facilities  for  the  development  of  his 
best  faculties,  but  the  principal  fault  seems  to 
have  rested  with  his  audience.  "The  students," 
he  wrote  to  Freytag,  "are  very  childish,  and,  as 
usual  in  Universities,  suffer  from  drowsy  drunk- 
enness." It  can  be  imagined  how  this  failure 
affected  and  depressed  the  eager  young  professor, 
for  whose  subsistence  the  Leipzig  students  had 
sent  a  deputation  to  Dresden,  and  whom  they  had 
honoured  on  his  departure  with  a  torchlight  pro- 
cession. To  me  he  said:  "The  Freiburg  students 
are  lazy — abominably  lazy."  More  than  once 
he  had  been  compelled  to  write  to  truant-playing 
pupils  asking  whether  they  intended  hearing 
lectures  at  all  in  future,  since  he  could  well  employ 


His  Life  and  Work  5 

his  time  to  better  advantage.  It  was  only  natural 
that  these  experiences  biassed  his  opinion  of  the 
whole  population,  and  he  judged  the  fathers' 
qualities  by  those  of  their  dissolute  sons.  Society 
also  left  him  discontented,  and  to  his  father  he 
wrote:  "I  do  not  find  it  easy  to  adjust  myself  to 
the  social  conditions  of  this  small  hole;  anybody 
with  as  little  talent  for  gossiping  as  I  possess 
suffers  from  an  ignorance  of  individual  peculiari- 
ties, and  stumbles  at  every  moment."  The 
Freiburg  nobility  being  not  only  strictly  Catholic, 
but  also  thoroughly  Austrian,  he,  with  his  out- 
spoken Prussian  tendencies  and  attacks  against  the 
priests,  stirred  up  a  good  deal  of  unrest.  Among 
his  colleagues,  he  associated  principally  with 
Mangold,  the  private  lecturer  von  Weech,  the 
lawyer  Schmidt,  and  the  University  steward  Frey, 
all  of  whom  were  of  Prussian  descent.  The  letter 
in  which  he  informs  his  godfather,  Gutschmid, 
that  he  had  again  been  asked  to  act  as  godfather 
is,  from  the  point  of  view  of  phraseology,  truly 
" Treitschkean " :  "A  few  weeks  ago  I  again  acted 
as  godfather,  to  a  daughter  of  M.,  and  on  this 
occasion  silently  implored  the  immortals  that  the 
child  might  turn  out  better  than  her  uncommonly 
good-for-nothing  brothers.  For  my  godchild  in 
Kiel  this  prayer  was  superfluous;  in  my  presence 
at  least,  your  Crown  Prince  always  behaved  as  an 
educated  child  of  educated  parents."  Through 
his  Bonn  relatives,  the  two  Nokk,  he  became 
acquainted  with  Freiherr  von  Bodman,  the  father- 


6  Treitschke 

in-law  of  Wilhelm  Nokk.  Especially  welcome 
was  he  at  the  house  of  von  Woringen,  the  Doctor 
of  Law,  where  he  saw  a  good  deal  of  Emma  von 
Bodman,  who  subsequently  became  his  wife,  and 
at  that  of  von  Hillern,  the  Superior  Court  Judge, 
whose  wife,  the  daughter  of  Charlotte  Birchpfeiffer, 
consulted  him  in  regard  to  her  poetical  creations. 
Already,  after  the  first  half  term,  the  deaf  young 
professor  was  the  most  discussed  person  in  local 
Society,  and  he  himself  boasted  to  my  wife  that 
for  his  benefit  several  Freiburg  ladies  learned  the 
deaf-and-dumb  language.  They  waxed  enthusi- 
astic over  the  young  and  handsome  scholar,  and 
in  their  admiration  for  him  sent  for  his  poems, 
only  to  be  subsequently  shocked,  like  Psyche 
before  Cupid.  Yet  it  is  characteristic  that  he 
started  his  literary  career  with  historic  ballads 
which  he  called  Patriotic  Poems  (1856),  and 
Studies  (1857). 

The  political  life  of  the  Badenese,  which  at  that 
time  principally  turned  upon  the  educational 
question,  was  not  to  his  taste.  The  Ultramon- 
tanes  he  simply  found  coarse  and  stupid,  and  he 
writes:  "It  is  empty  talk  to  speak  of  doctrinal 
freedom  and  freedom  to  learn  in  a  University 
with  a  Catholic  faculty.  All  Professors  of  Theo- 
logy are  clerks  in  holy  orders,  and  so  utterly  de- 
pendent upon  their  superiors  that  only  recently 
the  archbishop  asked  the  brave  old  Senator  Maier 
to  produce  the  books  of  his  pupils.  Furthermore, 
the  students  of  Theology  are  locked  in  a  convent, 


His  Life  and  Work  7 

and  true  to  old  Jesuitic  tradition  are  watched 
step  by  step  by  mutual  secret  control.  That  is 
what  is  called  academic  liberty."  But  here,  also, 
is  his  opinion  regarding  others:  "The  grand-ducal 
Badenese  liberalism  is  nothing  but  cheap  charla- 
tanism without  real  vigour";  nay,  he  calls  "par- 
ticularist  liberalism"  the  most  contemptible  of  all 
parties  which,  however,  unfortunately,  would  play 
an  important  part  in  the  near  future.  "Look  for 
instance  at  this  National  Coalition.  Has  ever  a 
great  nation  seen  such  a  monster?"  In  his  opin- 
ion it  sides  with  the  Imperial  Constitution  of 
1849,  although  the  leaders  themselves  are  con- 
vinced of  their  inability  to  carry  through  the 
programme,  and  at  the  same  time  the  future 
political  configuration  of  Germany  is  declared  to. 
be  an  open  question,  consequently  it  has  on  the 
whole  no  programme  at  all. 

Soon  I  was  destined  to  make  the  personal  ac- 
quaintance of  the  much-admired  and  much- 
criticized  one.  It  was  at  an  "At  Home"  at 
Mathy's.  Scarcely  had  I  entered  the  vestibule 
when  I  heard  a  very  loud  voice  in  the  drawing- 
room  slowly  emphasizing  every  syllable  in  the 
style  of  a  State  Councillor.  "This  is  Treitschke, 
of  Freiburg,"  I  said  immediately,  and  it  was  really 
he.  The  Freiburg  ladies  had  by  no  means  exag- 
gerated his  handsome  appearance.  A  tall,  broad- 
shouldered  figure,  dark  hair  and  dark  complexion, 
dark,  pensive  eyes,  now  dreamy,  now  vividly 
glistening — unmistakably  Slav.  With  his  black 


8  Treitschke 

hair,  the  heavy  moustache,  which  he  still  wore  at 
that  time,  and  his  vivid  gesticulations,  he  could 
not  conceal  his  Slav  origin.  He  looked  like  a 
Polish  nobleman,  and  his  knightly  frame  reminded 
one  of  a  Hussite,  a  Ziska  for  instance.  Later, 
he  told  me  of  his  exiled  ancestors — Czech  Pro- 
testants of  the  name  of  Trschky,  referred  to  by 
Schiller  in  Wallenstein,  although  the  editions 
mostly  spoke  of  Terzky's  Regiments.  At  about 
midnight,  when  wending  our  way  through  the 
silent  town,  a  policeman  approached  us,  intending 
to  warn  the  loud,  strange  gentleman  to  moderate 
his  voice.  The  arm  of  the  law,  however,  quickly 
retired  when,  in  company  of  the  disturber  of  the 
peace,  he  recognized  Herr  von  Roggenbach  and 
several  Ministerial  Secretaries.  As  Treitschke 
at  that  time  made  use  of  the  Karlsruhe  Archives, 
he  from  time  to  time  came  to  Karlsruhe,  where 
he  sought  the  society  of  Mathy,  Nokk,  von  Weech, 
and  Baumgarten.  Under  Mathy 's  influence  a 
gradual  change  took  place  in  him,  which  trans- 
mitted itself  to  all  of  us.  At  first  he  was  an  eager 
adherent  of  Augustenburg,  and  the  first  money 
received  for  his  lectures  in  Freiburg  he  invested  in 
the  Ducal  Loan.  Through  Freytag  he  had  like- 
wise recommended  his  friend,  von  Weech,  to  the 
Duke  of  Augustenburg  with  a  view  to  his  securing 
an  appointment  in  Kiel  for  publicistic  purposes. 
After  that  his  attitude  totally  changed.  When 
he  realized  that  Bismarck  earnestly  aspired  gain- 
ing for  Prussia  the  dominating  power  in  the  East 


His  Life  and  Work  9 

and  North  Sea,  he  frankly  declared  the  strengthen- 
ing of  Prussia  to  be  the  supreme  national  duty. 
Hausser  intended  to  pin  him  down  with  his  former 
views  by  citing  Treitschke's  first  Augustenburg 
dissertations  in  the  Review  of  the  Prussian  Annuals 
of  1864.  Treitschke,  however,  by  way  of  reply, 
in  an  essay  on  the  solution  of  the  Schleswig-Hol- 
stein  question,  proved  that  the  compliance  with 
the  Augustenburg  demands  was  detrimental  to 
Germany's  welfare.  Again  he  had  spoken  the 
decisive  word,  and  all  writers  of  our  circle  now 
advocated  annexation.  We  were  nicknamed 
"Mamelukes  and  Renegades"  by  our  Heidelberg 
colleague  Pickford,  then  editor  of  the  Konstanzer 
Zeitung.  Treitschke  was  now  as  violently  against, 
as  formerly  for,  the  Duke.  Now  he  sees  the  latter 
as  "the  miserable  pretender,  whom  he  despises 
from  the  bottom  of  his  heart.  Not  only  has  he 
not  come  to  the  noble  decision  which  Germany  is 
entitled  to  expect  from  him,  but  by  his  unscrupu- 
lous demagogical  agitations  he  has  utterly  un- 
settled his  country. ' '  In  Karlsruhe,  the  quiet  town 
of  officials,  such  a  political  point  of  view  was  perhaps 
admissible;  not  so,  however,  in  the  high  country 
filled  with  animosity  against  Prussia.  Every  child 
was  convinced  that  Prussia  now,  as  formerly,  in- 
tended handing  over  the  dukedoms  to  the  King  of 
the  Danes.  Junker  Voland,  who  had  persuaded  the 
King  to  break  with  the  Constitution,  was,  of  course, 
bribed  long  ago  by  England  and  Russia  to  again 
restore  the  dukedoms  to  Danish  supremacy. 


io  Treitschke 

Everything  that  had  happened  after  the  short, 
hopeful  glimpse  of  Prussia's  new  era  was  an  object 
of  sarcasm  for  the  South  German  population. 
When  a  boy  talked  very  stupidly,  his  comrades 
would  call  out :  "  Go  to  Konigsberg  and  have  your- 
self crowned";  and  at  Mass  the  beggar-women, 
pointing  with  their  sticks  to  the  Prince's  image, 
shrieked  out  mocking  insults. 

This  coarseness  of  the  street  and  the  tone  of  the 
Freiburg  democratic  journals  against  Prussia 
filled  the  politician,  so  inconsiderate  against  his 
own  Saxony,  with  immense  indignation.  In  a 
letter  to  Freytag  he  finds  the  Badenese  "quite 
steeped  in  the  quagmire  of  phrases  and  foul 
language.  Examining  these  parties,  the  moral 
value  of  both  sides  seems  identical;  the  meaning- 
less mendacity  of  our  average  liberalism  fills  me 
with  deep  disgust.  How  long  shall  we  labour 
ere  we  again  are  able  to  speak  of  German  faith? 
If  I  am  now  to  choose  between  the  two  parties, 
I  select  that  of  Bismarck,  since  he  struggles  for 
Prussian  power  for  our  legitimate  position  on  the 
North  and  East  Sea."  He  considered  as  impos- 
sible the  peaceful  conversion  of  the  Badenese  to 
Prussia.  "Amid  this  abominable  South  German 
particularism  it  has  become  perfectly  evident  to 
me  that  our  fate  will  clearly  be  decided  by  con- 
quest. Six  years  of  my  life  I  have  spent  in  the 
South,  and  here  I  have  gained  the  sad  conviction 
that  even  with  a  Cabinet  composed  of  men  of  the 
type  of  Stein  and  Humboldt,  the  hatred  and  jeal- 


His  Life  and  Work  n 

ousy  of  the  South  Germans  against  Prussia  would 
not  diminish.  I  am  longing  for  the  North,  to 
which  I  belong  with  all  my  heart,  and  where  also 
our  fate  will  be  decided."  His  public  lectures 
were  very  largely  frequented.  "But,"  he  says, 
"the  Philistines  are  prejudiced  when  entering 
the  Aula,  and  are  firmly  determined  to  consider 
as  untrue  every  word  I  say  about  Prussia.  The 
opinion  is  prevalent  that  the  South  Germans  are 
the  most  modest  of  our  people.  I  say  they  are 
the  most  arrogant;  to  a  man  they  consider  them- 
selves the  real  Germans,  and  the  North  a  country 
half  of  which  is  still  steeped  in  barbarity,  this 
quite  apart  from  a  dissolute  braggadocio  the  mere 
thought  of  which  fills  me  with  disgust.  Believe 
me,  only  the  trusty  sword  of  the  conqueror  can 
weld  together  these  countries  with  the  North." 
Later  on,  when  I  conversed  with  him  every  even- 
ing at  a  round  table  in  the  Heidelberg  Museum,  I 
realized  the  reasons  for  his  lack  of  understanding 
of  our  people.  We  seemed  to  him  lukewarm, 
because  we  did  not  strike  the  national  chord  with 
the  power  which  he  expected  of  a  good  German. 
But  why  should  we  do  that?  In  the  Saxony  of 
Herr  von  Beust,  and  in  Prussia's  time  of  reaction, 
national  ideas  were  tabooed,  and  that  is  why  the 
patriots  felt  compelled  to  bear  witness  in  season 
and  out  of  season.  But  we  lived  in  a  free  country, 
under  a  Prince  harbouring  German  sentiments, 
and  where  it  would  have  been  an  easy  matter  to 
feign  patriotism  quite  apart  from  the  fact  that  we 


12  Treitschke 

South  Germans  do  not  care  discussing  our  senti- 
ments. I  told  him  that  in  the  same  way  as  I, 
despite  my  warmest  feelings  for  my  family,  could 
not  bring  myself  to  proclaim  pompously  the  ex- 
cellence of  my  wife  and  child,  so  was  I  reluctant 
to  publicly  praise  my  Fatherland;  and  subse- 
quently I  reminded  him  of  the  Yankee  who  de- 
clared that  immediately  a  man  spoke  to  him  of 
patriotism  he  knew  him  to  be  a  rascal.  In  regard 
to  our  sympathy  for  France,  which  he  reviled  as 
the  Rhine  Confederation  sentimentality,  it  would 
be  difficult  for  him  to  place  himself  in  our  position. 
During  the  last  century  we  had  received  nothing 
but  kindness  from  France,  namely,  deliverance 
from  the  Palatine  Bavarian  regime,  from  Jesuits 
and  Lazarists,  from  episcopal  and  Junker  rule, 
from  guild  restrictions  and  compulsory  service: 
all  this  and  the  very  existence  of  the  country  which 
we  enjoyed  we  owed  directly  or  indirectly  to 
Napoleon  and  the  Code  Napoleon,  from  which 
the  hatred  of  the  French  arose.  This,  it  is  true, 
I  found  quite  natural,  considering  Napoleon 
weakened  Prussia  and  abused  Saxony.  He  was 
indignant  when  he  noticed  in  corridors  of  inns  and 
even  in  parlours  the  small  lithographs  which, 
under  the  First  Empire,  were  poured  out  in  thou- 
sands from  Paris  even  across  the  States  of  the  Rhine 
Convention,  representing  the  Victor  of  Marengo, 
the  Sun  of  Austerlitz,  Napoleon's  Battle  at  the 
Pyramids,  etc.,  and  which,  owing  to  the  conserva- 
tive spirit  of  the  peasantry,  decorated  the  walls, 


His  Life  and  Work  13 

until  moths,  rust,  and  wood-worms  gradually 
brought  about  their  destruction.  He  even  took 
offence  at  the  attitude  displayed  by  Frenchmen 
in  the  Black  Forest  watering  places,  and  in  Baden- 
Baden.  When,  finally,  a  Heidelberg  lawyer  de- 
clared in  the  Reichstag  that  for  him  the  cultured 
Frenchman  is  still  the  most  amiable  of  all  Euro- 
pean beings,  Treitschke  stigmatized  us  as  in- 
corrigible partisans  of  the  Rhine  Confederation. 
But  a  glance  at  the  letters  of  Frau  Rat  Goethe, 
in  Frankfort,  who  prayed  God  that  French  and 
not  Prussian  soldiers  should  be  quartered  in  her 
house,  might  have  taught  him  that  the  expressions 
of  a  long  historical  epoch  find  expression  in  these 
remarks,  which  could  not  be  effaced  by  proud 
words.  Furthermore,  when  the  Prussian  Ministry 
trampled  on  the  Budget  rights  of  Parliament,  and 
by  a  sophistical  theory  about  a  defect  in  the  Con- 
stitution exasperated  the  sense  of  justice  of  every 
honest-thinking  German,  when  the  most  extra- 
ordinary verdicts  of  the  Supreme  Court,  accom- 
panied by  the  removal  from  office  of  the  most 
capable  officials,  provoked  the  population,  it  was 
really  not  the  time  to  stimulate  among  South 
Germans  the  desire  to  become  incorporated  with 
Prussia.  The  moment  was,  therefore,  most  un- 
propitious  for  his  propaganda.  In  those  days 
even  such  old  admirers  of  a  Union  with  Prussia 
as  Brater  became  converts  to  the  triad-idea,  and 
Treitschke's  friend,  Freytag,  commented  on  it  in 
merely  the  following  manner:  "It  is  always  very 


14  Treitschke 

sad  and  unpleasant  when  intelligent  people  so 
easily  become  asses."  Why,  therefore,  should  the 
unintelligent  masses  be  judged  as  harshly  as  was 
done  by  Treitschke?  In  regard  to  our  clerical- 
political  struggles — and  this  was  the  second  reason 
for  his  lack  of  understanding  of  our  population — 
he  found  himself  in  the  position  of  a  guest  who 
enters  a  room  in  which  a  heated  discussion  has 
been  going  on  for  hours  past  and,  not  having  been 
present  from  the  beginning,  is  unable  to  appreciate 
the  intensity  of  the  contending  parties.  Even  at 
that  time  I  was  annoyed  at  the  haughty  tone  with 
which  he  and  his  non-Badenese  friends — Baum- 
garten  in  particular — discussed  the  Badenese 
struggles.  They  considered  the  educational  prob- 
lem trivial  compared  with  the  mighty  national 
question  at  stake;  and  overlooked  the  fact  that  to 
get  rid  of  the  clerical  party  was  to  be  the  primary 
condition  for  joining  hands  with  Protestant  Prussia. 
They  knew  less  of  the  situation  as  far  as  the  popu- 
lation was  concerned  than  of  events  in  the  Ministry 
and  at  Court.  Thus  they  constantly  looked  behind 
the  scenes,  and  thereby  missed  the  part  which 
was  being  played  on  the  stage.  That  is  why  none 
of  the  North  German  politicians  achieved  a  really 
cordial  understanding  with  their  citizens,  while 
Bluntschli  of  the  South,  in  spite  of  his  suspicious 
political  past,  could  boast  of  great  respect  among 
the  Liberals. 

In  the  autumn  of  1868  Treitschke  made  a  long 
stay  at  Karlsruhe;  he  spent  his  days  mostly  in 


His  Life  and  Work  15 

the  Archives,  and  the  evenings  found  him  either 
in  the  family  circle  of  his  friends  or  hard  at  work. 
He  had  not  become  more  favourably  impressed 
with  the  "townlet  of  clericals,"  and  expressed  the 
desire  more  and  more  frequently  to  be  nearer  a 
town  where  there  were  controversy  and  quarrelling, 
and  where  the  mind  was  exercised,  and  deeds  were 
done.  Nevertheless,  few  towns  in  Germany  could 
have  been  found  at  that  time  where  he  could 
express  so  freely  his  political  opinions  without 
interference  from  headquarters,  as  is  proved  by 
the  publication  of  his  famous  dissertation  on 
"Union  of  States  and  Single  State."  In  regard 
to  this  he  himself  thought  it  "extraordinary" 
that  it  could  have  been  published  in  Freiburg. 
That  the  German  Confederation  is  not  a  Coalition 
of  States,  but  a  Coalition  of  Rulers,  that  Austria 
cannot  be  called  a  German  State,  and  that  the 
Minor  Powers  are  no  States  at  all,  lacking  as  they 
do  power  of  self-determination:  all  these  axioms 
to-day  have  become  commonplace,  but  at  that 
time  the  particularist  press  raised  a  fierce  outcry 
against  them.  Although  an  official  of  a  Small 
State  himself,  he  nevertheless  put  into  print  that 
a  ship  a  span  in  length  is  no  ship  at  all,  and  that, 
should  the  Small  States  of  Prussia  be  annexed, 
what  would  happen  to  them  was  only  what  they 
themselves  in  times  gone  by  had  done  to  smaller 
territories;  for  they  owed  their  existence  to  an- 
nexations. Of  the  German  Princes  he  said:  "The 
majority  of  the  illustrious  heads  show  an  alarming 


1 6  Treitschke 

family  resemblance;  well-meaning  mediocrity  pre- 
dominates almost  everywhere.  And  this  genera- 
tion, not  very  lavishly  endowed  by  nature,  has 
from  early  youth  had  its  mind  imbued  with  the 
doctrines  of  monarchy,  and  with  the  traditions  of 
particularism.  From  childhood  it  is  surrounded 
by  that  Court  nobility  which  is  Germany's  curse, 
for  it  has  no  fatherland,  and  if  it  does  not  com- 
pletely disappear  in  stupid  selfishness,  it  rises  at  its 
highest  to  chivalrous  attachment  of  the  Prince's 
personality  and  the  princely  family.  Should 
that  Coalition  State,  which  the  princes  prefer  to 
the  Centralized  State,  come  about,  their  fate  would 
not  be  an  enviable  one.  If,  even  at  this  day,  the 
pretentious  title  of  King  of  the  Middle  States 
bears  no  proportion  to  its  importance,  we  shall  in 
a  Coalition  State  be  unable  to  contemplate  with- 
out a  smile  the  position  of  a  King  of  Saxony  or 
Wurtemberg.  Monarchs  in  such  position  would 
be  quite  superfluous  beings,  and  the  nation  sooner 
or  later  would  ask  the  question  whether  it  would 
not  be  advisable  to  discard  such  costly  and  useless 
organizations."  This  essay  he  sent  to  the  Grand 
Duke,  who  graciously  thanked  him  for  the  valu- 
able gift.  In  few  German  States  would  a  similar 
reception  have  been  given  to  such  a  treasonable 
publication.  "The  Karlsruhe  official  world" — 
so  he  informed  Freytag  on  December  27,  1864 — 
"has  recovered  from  the  first  absurd  shock  which 
my  book  occasioned";  he  himself,  therefore,  did 
not  deny  its  startling  character.  Nevertheless,  he 


His  Life  and  Work  17 

was  often  commanded  by  the  Court  to  give  lec- 
tures, and  in  spite  of  his  political  heresy  he  was 
still  a  much  sought  after  and  distinguished  person- 
ality, and  already  regarded  as  possible  successor 
to  Hausser. 

When  the  crisis,  anticipated  by  him  long  before, 
really  broke  out  he  decided  to  relinquish  his 
thankless  duties  in  Freiburg,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  he  was  too  far  away  from  the  theatre  of 
events  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  press  cam- 
paign. Roggenbach's  resignation  had  not  en- 
deared Baden  to  him.  As  regards  Stabel,  Lamey, 
Ludwig,  etc.,  he  thought  they  did  not  even  bestow 
a  thought  upon  Germany.  "  Edelsheim  is  no  good 
at  all.  Mathy,  ironically  smiling,  keeps  aloof; 
he  is  above  the  question  of  Small  States;  he  was 
the  first  to  predict  that  nowadays  a  Small  State 
cannot  be  governed  by  Parliament.  The  downfall 
of  our  friend  is  only  a  question  of  time,  and  pre- 
sumably it  will  be  accelerated  by  the  extraordi- 
nary ineptitude  of  the  Chamber.  Naturally,  at 
the  next  session  ministers  will  be  harassed  by 
flippant  interpellations  until  the  Liberals  resign 
and  the  strong  bureaucrats  take  office.  That  will 
then  be  called  a  triumph  of  parliamentary  prin- 
ciples." Still  more  drastic  are  his  views  on  June 
12,  1866:  "  Lamey 's  views  on  politics  are  on  a  level 
with  the  beer  garden;  and  then  this  fool  of  an 
Edelsheim!  Roggenbach's  resignation  was  a  fatal 
mistake."  Treitschke's  friends  were  infallible, 
but  not  the  later  "  Ministry  of  Emperor  Frederick." 


1 8  Treitschke 

After  the  Battle  of  Koniggratz,  even  Freytag 
spoke  in  his  letter  of  "Bismaerckchen"  (Little 
Bismarck),  and  of  the  waggish  tricks  of  this 
"hare-brain,"  of  which  in  reality  he  was  afraid. 
Comparing  the  clear,  self-confident  letters  of 
Bismarck  with  the  excited  correspondence  of  these 
spirited  political  amateurs,  no  doubt  can  be  enter- 
tained as  to  where  was  the  superiority  of  mind  and 
character.  But  to  know  better  was  then  the 
order  of  the  day,  and  the  mischievous  attempts  of 
Oscar  Becker  and  Blind  Cohen,  which  aimed  at 
removing  King  Wilhelm  and  Bismarck  because 
they  were  not  the  right  people  to  frame  Germany's 
Constitution,  were  only  a  crude  expression  of  the 
self-same  desire  to  know  better.  At  the  same  time 
these  gentlemen  were  no  more  agreed  among 
themselves  than  they  were  in  agreement  with  the 
Government,  and  when  Baumgarten  warned  the 
Prussians  to  think  more  of  the  threatening  war 
than  of  the  constitutional  contest,  he  received  in 
the  journal  Der  Grenzbote,  from  Freytag,  a  very 
impolite  answer  for  his  "craziness."  The  Prus- 
sians had  no  wish  to  be  taught  their  duties  by  the 
Braunschweigers.  Meanwhile  Bismarck's  atten- 
tion had  been  directed  to  Treitschke,  and  through 
the  medium  of  Count  Fleming,  the  Prussian 
Ambassador  at  Karlsruhe,  he  was  invited  to  a 
personal  interview  to  Berlin.  The  Count,  a  very 
musical  and  easy-going  gentleman,  gave  Treitschke 
such  scanty  information  as  to  the  object  of  the 
journey  that,  on  June  7,  1866,  the  latter  himself 


His  Life  and  Work  19 

wrote  to  Bismarck.  It  surely  was  a  great  temp- 
tation to  Treitschke  when  Bismarck  suggested 
that  he  should  take  part  at  his  side  in  the  great 
impending  developments,  should  draw  up  the 
Manifesto  to  the  German  population,  and  write 
in  the  papers  for  the  good  cause,  while,  after  the 
conclusion  of  peace,  he  would  be  given  a  position 
in  Berlin  as  University  Professor  of  History.  How 
many  of  those  who  at  that  time  called  him  a 
Mameluke  and  a  Renegade  would  have  resisted 
such  temptation?  He  replied  that,  as  hitherto, 
he  would  support  Bismarck's  Prussian  external 
policy,  but  he  refused  to  become  a  Prussian  func- 
tionary until  after  the  re-establishment  of  the 
Constitution.  Until  this  had  come  to  pass  no 
power  of  persuasion  in  the  world,  and  not  even  the 
whisperings  of  angels,  would  make  an  impression 
upon  the  nation.  He  even  refused  to  draw  up  the 
War  Manifesto.  He  did  not  wish  to  sacrifice  his 
honest  political  name  for  the  sake  of  a  great  sphere 
of  activity.  When,  on  a  later  occasion,  Bismarck 
invited  to  dinner  "our  Braun,"  in  order  to  win 
him  over  to  his  protective  duty  plans,  Braun — 
adamant,  as  he  told  me  himself — declared  that 
he  could  not  renounce  his  convictions  of  the  past» 
not  having  been  educated  in  protective  ideas. 
Bismarck,  infuriated,  threw  down  the  serviette, 
rose,  and  slammed  the  door  behind  him;  where- 
upon, Braun,  in  spite  of  the  Princess's  entreaty 
not  to  argue  with  her  ailing  husband,  told  the 
ladies  he  could  not  put  up  with  everything,  and 


2O  Treitschke 

likewise  retired.  Treitschke,  although  in  a  similar 
predicament,  must  have  been  held  in  higher  esteem 
by  Bismarck,  for,  in  spite  of  his  refusal,  he  was 
invited  to  headquarters  for  the  second  time  after 
the  victories.  Treitschke  had  persistently  de- 
clined any  semi-official  activity  until  the  re- 
establishment  of  the  Constitution,  yet  Bismarck 
granted  him  unrestricted  use  of  the  Archives  until 
the  day  on  which  he  himself  took  over  the  minis- 
terial portfolio;  furthermore,  Treitschke's  wounded 
brother  was  under  the  personal  care  of  the  Prince. 
Treitschke's  disposition  in  those  days  is  appa- 
rent from  a  letter  to  Gustave  Freytag  of  June  I2th, 
which  runs  as  follows:  "  During  such  serious  times, 
surrounded  only  by  madly  fanatic  opponents, 
I  often  feel  the  desire  to  chat  with  old  friends. 
The  uncertainty  and  unclearness  of  the  situation 
has  also  been  reflected  very  vividly  in  my  life. 
I  have  some  very  trying  days  behind  me.  Bis- 
marck asked  me  to  his  headquarters:  I  was  to 
write  the  War  Manifesto,  to  work  for  the  policy 
of  the  German  Government,  and  was  assured  a 
Professorship  in  Berlin,  the  dream  of  my  am- 
bitions; I  could  write  with  an  easy  conscience  the 
proclamations  against  Austria  and  for  the  German 
Parliament.  Briefly,  the  temptation  was  very 
great,  and  all  the  more  enticing  as  my  stay  here  is 
slowly  becoming  unbearable.  Even  Roggenbach, 
now  an  out-and-out  Prussian,  did  not  dare 
dissuade  me,  but  I  had  to  refuse ;  I  could  not  pledge 
myself  to  a  policy,  the  final  aims  of  which  only 


His  Life  and  Work  21 

one  man  knows,  when  I  had  no  power  to  mend  its 
defects.  I  could  not  for  the  sake  of  a  very  doubt- 
ful success  stake  my  honest  name.  According  to 
my  political  doctrine  even  one's  good  name  is  to 
be  sacrificed  to  the  Fatherland,  but  only  to  the 
Fatherland;  and  consequently,  only  when  in 
power,  and  when  hopes  exist  of  really  furthering 
the  State  by  steps  which  the  masses  consider 
profligate.  I  am  differently  placed."  He  had 
chosen  the  right  way,  and  his  sacrifice  was  not  in 
vain.  It  must  have  impressed  Bismarck  that 
even  such  fanatics  of  Prussianism  as  Treitschke 
did  not  pardon  the  way  he  dealt  with  the  clear 
rights  of  the  country.  In  those  days  he  permitted 
negotiations  with  President  von  Unruh,  in  order 
to  settle  the  constitutional  conflict.  Treitschke's 
renunciation,  tantamount  to  an  adjournment  of 
his  most  ardent  wishes,  is  to  be  praised  all  the 
more  as  his  isolated  position  in  Freiburg  would 
have  determined  any  other  man  less  brave  than 
himself  to  take  his  departure  speedily.  The 
posters  and  threats  of  the  Ultramontanes  were 
quite  personally  directed  against  him.  Police 
had  to  watch  his  house;  for  in  the  midst  of  an 
excited  Catholic  population  he  was  more  openly 
exposed  to  danger  than  Bluntschli  was  in  Heidel- 
berg, with  its  national  tendencies.  He  smiled, 
however.  "Beneath  the*  screaming  insubordina- 
tion of  the  South  German  rabble" — so  he  writes — 
"there  is  not  sufficient  courage  left  to  even  smash 
a  window-pane."  When,  however,  the  Edelsheim 


22  Treitschke 

Parliamentary  Division,  on  June  I7th,  established 
that  Baden  was  determined  to  stand  by  Austria, 
he  sent  in  his  resignation.  "  I  cannot  gamble  with 
my  oath,"  he  wrote  to  Freytag;  "that  is  to  say, 
I  cannot  remain  official  servant  in  a  State  of  the 
Rhine  Convention  which  I,  as  a  patriot,  must 
endeavour  to  damage  in  every  way.  I  cannot 
commit  political  suicide,  and  in  times  like  these 
retire  into  the  interior  of  the  enemy's  country. 
These  are  my  simple  and  telling  reasons."  To 
Gustav  Freytag  alone  he,  however,  confessed  how 
difficult  this  step  had  been  for  him,  and  on  July 
4th  he  wrote  as  follows:  "What  made  these  weeks 
particularly  trying,  and  rendered  so  difficult  my 
radical  decision,  I  will  confess  to  you,  but  to  you 
alone.  On  June  i8th,  immediately  before  my 
resignation,  I  became  engaged."  At  a  moment 
when  an  assured  position  meant  everything  to  him 
he  departed  from  his  country  without  knowing 
whether  he  would  be  able  to  gain  a  footing  else- 
where. On  the  day  on  which  Freiburg  danced 
with  joy  on  account  of  the  Prussian  defeat  at 
Frautenau,  he  received  information  that  his  re- 
signation had  been  accepted.  On  the  following 
morning,  June  29th,  he  departed  by  railway  for 
Berlin  in  search  of  a  new  post.  The  Freiburg 
rabble  had  planned  honouring  him  with  a  Dutch 
Concert,  but  it  was  found  that  he  had  already  left. 
More  with  a  view  to  travelling  quickly — the 
Badenese  lines  being  blocked  by  military  trains — 
than  on  account  of  apprehensions  of  unpleasant 


His  Life  and  Work  23 

encounters  with  soldiers  in  the  railway  stations, 
he  travelled  via  Strasburg  and  Lothring.  Upon 
his  arrival  at  Miinster  of  Stein  the  display  of 
black  and  white  flags  taught  him  the  real  meaning 
of  the  Prussian  defeats  which  caused  such  rejoicing 
amongst  his  Freiburg  patrons. 


After  his  exodus  to  Berlin,  our  patriot  found 
temporary  employment  at  the  Preussische  Jahr- 
bucher  (Prussian  Annuals)  ,  where  he  was  appointed 
deputy  to  Wehrenpfennig,  the  editor  of  the  journal. 
"For  the  moment  of  course,  "  he  wrote  to  Frey- 
tag,  "the  guns  talk,  and  how  magnificently  they 
talk!"  He  also  thought  that  every  Hussar  who 
knocked  down  a  Croat  rendered  greater  service 
to  his  country  than  all  the  journalists.  All  the 
same,  his  aim  was  to  be  as  useful  as  possible  with 
his  pen  to  the  cause  of  the  Prussian  eagles.  He 
approved  of  Bismarck's  constitutional  plans,  but 
the  introduction  of  universal  suffrage  appealed  to 
him  as  little  then  as  later  on.  "I  consider  uni- 
versal suffrage  in  Germany  a  crude  and  frivolous 
experiment,"  he  wrote.  "We  are  yet  a  cultured 
people,  and  under  no  obligation  to  submit  to  the 
predominant  lack  of  sense.  If  we  once  stretch 
this  point  it  will,  in  view  of  the  jealous  ambition 
for  equality  prevalent  in  this  century,  be  almost 
impossible  to  regain  it.  Of  all  the  Bismarckian 
actions  I  am  afraid  this  is  the  least  beneficial  one. 


24  Treitschke 

For  the  moment  it  will  procure  for  him  a  gratifying 
Parliamentary  majority;  there  is,  however,  in- 
calculable confusion  in  store." 

Under  his  editorship  the  Preussische  Jahrbucher 
were  distinguished  by  exceptionally  cutting 
language.  After  three  months  Wehrenpfennig, 
however,  again  took  up  his  duties,  and  at  the  be- 
ginning of  October,  at  the  house  of  his  fiancee  at 
Freiburg,  the  news  reached  him  of  his  appointment 
as  Professor  for  History  and  Politics  at  Kiel. 
Immediately  after  the  winter  term  his  wedding 
took  place  in  Freiburg,  and  the  honeymoon  was 
spent  in  the  north  of  Italy,  the  couple  subse- 
quently leaving  for  their  new  home  to  enjoy  a 
second  spring  on  the  eastern  sea.  It  would  have 
been  quite  within  his  power  to  obtain  an  appoint- 
ment as  Professor  at  Heidelberg.  It  was  even 
the  wish  of  the  Grand  Duke  that  he  should  take 
the  historical  subjects  in  place  of  Hausser,  who 
was  suffering  from  an  incurable  heart  disease. 
Treitschke's  refined  sentiment  was,  however,  op- 
posed to  introducing  himself  as  the  joyful  heir  to 
the  dying  man,  who  was  his  old  master. 

When  Hausser,  amid  the  peals  of  the  Easter 
bells  of  1867,  closed  his  worldly  account,  Treit- 
schke told  his  young  wife  that  for  him  Hausser's 
death  had  come  a  good  many  years  too  soon,  and 
that  the  departed  one  had  lost  a  great  chance. 
To  be  active  during  the  years  of  youth  in  beautiful 
Heidelberg,  and  then,  after  many  struggles  and 
victories,  at  the  eve  of  life  to  march  triumphantly 


His  Life  and  Work  25 

into  Berlin  must  be  the  finest  lot  of  a  University 
Professor.  Besides,  as  in  consequence  of  his 
recent  writings  during  the  war  his  appointment 
in  a  Small  State  had  become  almost  impossible, 
he  prepared  for  a  longer  stay  in  the  new  home,  and 
on  the  beautiful  Bay  of  Kiel  enjoyed  married 
bliss.  The  great  crowd  of  public  functionaries 
and  cultured  citizens  who  thronged  his  lectures 
proved  to  him  that  here  also  there  was  useful 
work  to  do.  He  was  very  pleased  with  the  Kiel 
students,  energetic  and  conscientious  as  they  were. 
In  Gutschmid  and  Ribbeck  he  found  true  political 
adherents,  but  soon  he  also  began  to  understand 
the  disposition  of  the  Holsteins.  At  the  house  of 
Fraulein  Hegewisch,  the  daughter  of  the  well- 
known  medical  practitioner  and  patriot,  who  pre- 
eminently belongs  to  the  group  of  the  "Children 
of  Sorrow,"  and  the  "Up  ewig  Ungedeelten,"  he 
made  the  personal  acquaintance  of  the  leader  of 
the  Augustenburgs.  Friendly  relations  developed, 
although  he  did  not  fail  to  sneer  at  the  Holsteins, 
who  considered  themselves  Normalmenschen  (nor- 
mal beings).  "On  one  occasion,"  Fraulein  Hege- 
wisch informed  me,  "on  account  of  the  crowd,  I 
walked  in  the  footpath  of  the  Heidelberg  high 
street  instead  of  on  the  pavement,  when  behind 
me  some  one  shouted,  '  Normalmensch,  Normal- 
mensch!  Why  don't  you  walk  on  the  pavement 
like  others?'  In.'the  letters  to  Freytag,  also,  he 
mentioned  a  good  deal  of  Holstein  conceit  and 
self-praise,  and  in  course  of  conversation  he  was 


26  Treitschke 

inclined  to  explain  the  local  patriotism  of  the 
Schleswig  student  by  the  fact  that  everybody 
knew  his  Hardevogt  who  was  ready  to  attest  that 
this  or  the  other  patriot  was  needy  and  deserved 
to  be  exempt  from  paying  college  contribution. 
That  the  rest  of  the  world  was  nailed  with  "nor- 
mal" planks  as  far  as  the  Holsteins  were  con- 
cerned was  also  one  of  the  obliging  expressions 
with  which  he  favoured  the  population.  In  the 
same  way  his  lady  friend,  when  praising  the  beauty 
of  Holstein,  was  usually  annoyed  by  his  remark 
that  there  were  eight  months  of  winter  and  four 
months  of  rain  in  Kiel.  When,  however,  asked 
by  Nokk  whether  he  would  care  to  return  to 
Baden,  he  replied:  "Not  for  all  the  treasures  of 
India  to  Freiburg,  but  willingly  to  Heidelberg." 
His  writings  since  his  departure  from  Freiburg 
had  not  rendered  probable  his  recall.  His  essay 
"On  the  Future  of  the  North  German  Middle 
States,"  written  in  Berlin,  1866,  attempting  to 
prove  that  the  dynasties  of  Kurhessen,  Hanover, 
and  of  his  own  Saxony,  were  "ripe — nay,  over- 
ripe— for  merited  destruction,"  could  not  serve 
exactly  as  a  recommendation  for  appointment  in 
a  Small  State.  The  intention  of  the  Badenese 
Government  was  somewhat  paradoxical,  as  every- 
thing he  wrote  about  Small  States  and  the  Na- 
poleonic crowns  applied  to  Baden  as  well  as  to 
Saxony  and  Nassau.  And  how  he  had  sneered 
at  the  poor  small  potentates.  "Germany,"  he 
wrote,  "will  not  perish  even  if  the  Nassau  Captain 


His  Life  and  Work  27 

with  his  gun,  his  servant,  and  his  seven  bristly 
fowls  should  gaily  enter  the  Marxburg  again,  the 
stronghold  of  the  Nassau  Realm.  Whether  the 
Frankfurter  will  be  able  to  call  himself  in  future 
a  Republican,  whether  the  Duke  Bernhard  Erich 
Feund  and  Princess  Karoline  of  the  older  line 
will  again  ascend  the  throne  of  their  parents,  all 
these  are  third-rate  matters  which  fall  to  the  back- 
ground in  face  of  the  question  of  the  future  of  the 
three  Middle  State  Courts  of  the  North."  He 
quite  realized,  he  wrote,  that  the  punctilious 
Counsellor  of  Court,  Goething,  would  lose  faith 
in  his  God  if  Georgia  Augusta  were  to  be  deprived 
of  the  euphonic  title  "The  Jewel  in  the  Crown  of 
the  Welfs,"  and  as  for  the  Leipzig  Professor,  the 
thought  is  inconceivable  that  he  should  cease  to 
be  "a  pearl  in  the  lozenged  wreath  of  Saxony." 
The  doctrinaire  is  annoyed  and  offended  when 
brutal  facts  disturb  his  circle.  He  cannot  approve 
of  the  way  Prussia  has  made  use  of  her  needle 
guns:  "But  picture  the  scene  of  King  Johann's 
entry  into  his  capital,  how  the  Town  Council  of 
Dresden,  faithful  at  all  times,  receives  the  destruc- 
tor of  the  country  with  words  of  thanks  and  adora- 
tion ;  how  maidens  in  white  and  green,  with  lozenged 
wreaths,  bow  to  the  stained  and  desecrated  crown; 
how  another  dignitary  orders  the  foolish  songs  of 
particularist  poetry  to  be  delivered:  'The  Violet 
blossoms,  verdant  is  again  the  Lozenge';  really, 
the  mere  thought  fills  one  with  disgust;  it  would 
be  a  spectacle  to  be  likened  to  grown-ups  playing 


28  Treitschke 

with  toy  soldiers  and  rocking-horses."  Even  for 
Germans  with  good  Prussian  sentiments  this  was 
somewhat  strong  language.  In  the  presence  of 
the  Prussian  General,  who  occupied  Dresden,  the 
essay  was  confiscated  by  the  Saxon  Public  Pro- 
secutor, but  was  released  again  by  order  of  the 
military  authorities.  Treitschke's  father  expressed 
himself  in  angry  words  against  his  son's  pamphlet, 
and  in  return  received  an  autograph  letter  from 
the  King  expressing  sympathy.  It  is  evident, 
that,  under  these  circumstances,  it  was  no  easy 
matter  for  the  Badenese  Court  to  call  the  author 
to  Heidelberg.  In  the  same  way  as  his  former 
articles  against  the  Middle  States  prevented  his 
being  present  at  the  wedding  of  his  favourite 
second  sister — he  wished  to  avoid  meeting  the 
Karlowitz — so  did  he  through  this  publication 
stand  in  the  following  year  isolated  and  shunned 
at  the  grave  of  his  father,  in  addition  to  almost 
losing  his  appointment  to  Heidelberg. 

When  the  question  of  filling  Hausser's  chair 
arose  for  discussion  it  caused  the  opening  of  nego- 
tiations in  the  first  instance  with  Sybel,  a  gentle- 
man who,  especially  in  our  Karlsruhe  circle, 
enjoyed  great  reputation,  and  on  his  visits  even 
charmed  our  particularists  by  his  extraordinary 
amiability.  Baumgarten  had  worked  with  him 
in  Munich.  Von  Weech  was  his  pupil.  He  was 
an  intimate  friend  of  Philip  Jolly.  I  was  also 
pleased  at  the  prospective  appointment,  for  when 
I  spent  a  few  delightful  weeks  with  him  and  Her- 


His  Life  and  Work  29 

mann  Grimm  on  the  Rigi-Scheideck,  in  1863,  he 
had  rendered  me  several  literary  services,  and  had 
so  warmly  recommended  me  to  his  Karlsruhe 
friends  that  I  was  cordially  received  by  them. 
But  Sybel,  occupying  the  position  which  he  did, 
considered  himself,  in  view  of  the  Parliamentary 
quarrel,  unjustified  in  abandoning  Prussia. 
Meanwhile  the  agitated  waves  had  somewhat 
subsided,  and  Mathy  had  never  given  up  the 
bringing  back  of  his  "Max  Piccolomini"  to  Baden. 
Only  in  Heidelberg  his  impending  appointment 
met  with  opposition.  Hitzig — who  was,  later, 
Pro-Rector — on  November  22,  1866,  after  Konig- 
gratz,  in  a  festive  speech  entitled,  "What  does  it 
profit  a  man  to  conquer  the  world  if  thereby  he 
lose  his  soul?"  and  expressing  unerring  confidence 
in  the  return  of  Barbarossa,  and  the  black-red 
golden  Kyffhauser  magnificence,  declared  to  me 
at  the  General  Synod  in  Karlsruhe  that  he  and  his 
friends  would  do  all  in  their  power  to  prevent 
such  an  unhappy  choice.  They  did  not  want  a 
writer  of  feuilletons  who  would  make  the  giddy 
Palatines  still  more  superficial.  Besides,  owing 
to  his  deafness,  Treitschke  was  useless  for  all 
academic  functions,  which  in  Heidelberg  were  of 
the  greatest  importance.  The  actual  Pro-Rector, 
Dr.  Med.  Friedreich,  a  Bavarian  by  birth,  was 
likewise  opposed  to  the  appointment,  and  later 
on,  after  the  outbreak  of  the  academic  disputes, 
declared  in  a  letter  to  the  minister  that  it  was  a 
matter  for  regretful  doubt  whether  the  mental 


3O  Treitschke 

condition  of  Heir  von  Treitschke  could  still  be 
considered  a  normal  one.  After  long  struggles 
Treitschke  was  at  last  proposed  in  third  place  by 
the  Faculty.  In  the  first  place,  Pauly  was  men- 
tioned, in  order  to  teach  a  lesson  to  the  Wurtem- 
berg  Government  for  having  transferred  him,  by 
way  of  punishment,  from  the  University  to  a 
Convent  School.  In  the  second  place,  there  was 
Duncker,  and  in  the  third,  Treitschke.  In  the 
Senate,  Duncker  was  placed  first,  but  Jolly  did 
not  trouble  about  this  order,  and  after  Sybel's 
refusal  the  choice  fell  upon  Treitschke.  He 
however,  had  now  certain  points  to  consider.  His 
work  made  him  dependent  upon  the  Berlin 
Archives,  the  unrestricted  use  of  which  Bismarck 
had  granted  him  till  the  day  when  he  himself 
became  minister;  there  he  found  the  greatest 
possible  assistance  for  his  history  on  the  Custom 
Union.  "How  stupid  of  the  Berliners,"  he  told 
me  on  a  later  occasion,  "to  bury  all  their  acts,  and 
allow  Nebenius  to  enjoy  the  fame  of  being  the 
founder  of  the  Custom  Union."  It  would,  how- 
ever, have  been  much  more  difficult  to  use  the 
Archives  in  Berlin  from  Heidelberg,  and  he,  of 
course,  did  not  know  how  long  this  favour  would 
be  granted  to  him.  The  difficulties  in  connection 
with  his  appointment  at  Heidelberg  were  not 
exactly  encouraging  either,  and  it  could  not  be 
expected  of  him  to  display  great  sympathies 
towards  Badenese  Liberalism,  which  he  had  seen 
at  work  in  1866.  In  a  letter  to  Jolly,  he  grate- 


His  Life  and  Work  31 

fully  acknowledged  the  sorely-tried  noble  spirit 
of  the  Grand  Duke,  who  had  again  stretched  out 
the  hand,  in  spite  of  his  former  sudden  resignation 
from  Badenese  official  service;  but  he  made  the 
acceptance  of  the  position  dependent  upon  the 
consent  of  the  Prussian  Government.  In  those 
days  his  friends,  Mathy,  Hofmeister,  and  Nokk, 
did  their  utmost,  personally,  to  persuade  Treitschke, 
and  only  after  having  received  the  assurance  from 
Berlin  that  his  views  were  appreciated  there,  that 
his  activity  in  Baden  for  the  national  cause  would 
be  regarded  with  favour,  and  that  the  King  would 
continue  to  consider  him  a  Prussian  subject,  he 
accepted  the  call  to  Heidelberg.  Having  simul- 
taneously received  my  appointment  as  Assistant 
Professor  for  the  Theological  Faculty,  we  once 
more  met.  As  until  the  last  moment  I  was  uncer- 
tain whether  the  proposal  for  the  creation  of  this 
Faculty  would  materialize,  not  even  the  slightest 
preparations  for  the  winter  lectures  had  been 
made  by  me,  and,  overwhelmed  with  work  as  I 
now  was,  I  resolved  to  pay  no  visits  at  all.  It  was 
Treitschke  who,  although  older  and  "Ordinarius," 
called  on  me,  the  younger  and  Assistant  Professor. 
Thus  our  relations  were  renewed,  and,  as  Prusso- 
phils  and  Prussophobes  kept  more  and  more  apart, 
quite  naturally  we  became  closer  attached  to 
each  other.  On  November  22d  the  Pro-Rector, 
Dr.  Med.  Friedreich,  at  the  dinner  in  honour  of  the 
dies  academicus,  had,  in  accordance  with  custom, 
to  deliver  a  speech.  The  South  German  Progres- 


32  Treitschke 

sive  intended  avoiding  political  allusions,  and 
consequently  hit  upon  a  medical  comparison  of  the 
two  newly-appointed  gentlemen  with  the  Siamese 
Twins,  whose  nature  and  history  he  exhaustively 
detailed.  The  one,  the  stronger,  lifted  the  weaker 
one  when  disobedient  up  in  the  air  until  he  yielded. 
The  joy  and  sorrow  of  the  one  transmitted  itself 
to  the  other  one;  when  one  drank  wine,  the  other 
felt  the  effects,  etc.  Subsequently  he  spoke  of 
the  relations  of  the  Theological  Faculty  to  medical 
science,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  had  undeceived 
orthodoxy;  and  finally  he  drank  the  health  of  the 
new  arrivals.  In  very  touching  words  Treitschke 
recalled  the  memory  of  our  mutual  teacher, 
Hausser.  Whether  I  liked  it  or  not,  I  had  to 
picture  myself  as  the  weaker  twin,  who  often  had 
been  lifted  by  the  stronger  one,  and  had  promised 
to  be  obedient  at  all  times.  In  spite  of  the  peals 
of  laughter  with  which  Friedreich's  speech  had 
been  received  by  the  learned  circle,  the  whole  thing 
struck  me  as  very  insipid.  Treitschke,  however, 
was  most  highly  amused,  and  for  some  time  after, 
when  meeting  him,  his  first  words  used  to  be,  "Well, 
Twin,  how  are  we?"  Later  on  he  applied  the  un- 
savoury comparison  of  the  doctor  to  Delbruck  and 
Kamphausen,  which  did  not  please  me  either. 

III. 

In  Heidelberg,  Treitschke  did  not  experience 
with   the   students   the   difficulties  he  had   com- 


His  Life  and  Work  33 

plained  of  in  Freiburg — a  proof  that  the  recalci- 
trant attitude  of  the  Freiburg  Student  Corps  was, 
to  a  great  extent,  due  to  the  Ultramontanes  and 
to  politicians  striving  to  reform  the  German 
Confederation  in  union  with  Austria.  It  is  true 
some  young  students  complained  to  me  that  on  the 
first  few  occasions  they  were  quite  unable  to  hear 
what  he  said,  that  his  delivery  was  much  too  rapid, 
and  that  they  were  irritated  by  the  gurgling  noise 
with  which  he  from  time  to  time  unwittingly 
drew  in  his  breath.  But  when  once  used  to  his 
mannerisms,  they  all  admitted  that  his  gift  of 
speech,  his  accuracy  of  expression,  and  elementary 
force  of  enthusiasm  appealed  to  them  like  a  some- 
thing never  before  experienced.  An  enthusiastic 
theologian,  who  died  prematurely,  applied  to  him 
the  following  expression  from  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John:  "Never  before  hath  a  man  spoken  as  this 
man  did!"  Treitschke  brought  with  him  to 
lectures  merely  a  scrap  of  paper  with  the  catch- 
words written  on  it,  so  that  he  should  not  stray 
from  the  subject  and  forget  to  allude  to  certain 
matters.  On  one  occasion,  having  left  his  notes 
at  home,  he  told  me  he  had  finished,  after  all, 
five  minutes  sooner,  which  proved  that  we  all  are 
"creatures  of  habit."  What  was  particularly 
fascinating  in  him  was  the  assurance  of  his  manner. 
He  stood  erect,  with  an  expression  of  cheerfulness 
on  his  face,  the  head  thrown  back,  and  emphasiz- 
ing the  salient  points  by  repeatedly  nodding. 
The  contents  of  his  lectures  were  invariably  his- 


34  Treitschke 

torical  and  political.  While  Ranke  completely 
lost  himself  in  pictures  of  the  past,  Treitschke 
never  for  a  moment  forgot  the  present.  What  he 
said  of  Cromwell,  Gustavus  Adolphus,  and  Na- 
poleon always  had  its  references  to  present-day 
England,  Germany,  and  France.  His  examples 
proved  that  the  taking  to  pieces  of  the  sources 
of  information  and  the  looking  for  originals  of 
reports,  however  indispensable  this  preparatory 
work  might  be,  did  not  complete  the  functions  of 
the  historian.  It  was  necessary  to  understand 
the  people  whose  fate  one  intends  to  relate,  and  as 
Treitschke  himself  said,  one  understands  only 
what  one  loves.  All  great  historians  are  at  the 
same  time  great  patriots,  and  no  one  is  a  real 
historian  who  has  not  exhausted  the  depth  of 
human  nature,  and  knows  how  thoughts  originate 
and  passions  are  at  work.  The  historian  must 
display  a  certain  ingenuity  in  guessing  connections. 
He  must  be  able  to  reply  to  the  great  enigmas  of 
life,  and  must  be  a  poet  who  understands  how  to 
shape  material  vigorously.  All  this  was  to  be 
found  in  this  wonderful  man,  and  that  is  why  he 
combined  for  the  young  people  politics  with  philo- 
sophy and  religion.  "Whoever  wishes  to  write 
history  must  have  the  heart  of  a  lion,"  says  Martin 
Luther;  and  so  Treitschke  writes:  "Only  a  stout 
heart,  grasping  the  meaning  of  the  past  of  a  coun- 
try like  personally  experienced  good  and  evil 
fortune,  can  truly  write  history."  It  is  not  per- 
fection of  form  only,  but  depth  of  soul  which 


His  Life  and  Work  35 

accounts  for  the  greatness  of  ancient  historians. 
Who  will  deny  that  thereby  he  portrayed  his  own 
picture?  "The  historian  must  be  just,  outspoken, 
indifferent  to  the  sensitiveness  of  the  Courts 
and  fearless  of  the  hatred,  more  powerful  now- 
adays, of  the  educated  rabble":  these  were  the 
principles  to  which  he  adhered  from  his  chair. 
Already  in  the  first  weeks  of  his  Heidelberg  years, 
when  reading  a  good  deal  of  Tacitus  and  Suetonius 
for  my  New  Testament  Chronicle,  I  had  a  very 
instructive  conversation  on  this  subject  with  him. 
I  told  him  that  in  view  of  the  strong  antagonistic 
attitude  taken  up  by  the  Roman  aristocrats,  I 
attached  no  greater  value  to  their  descriptions  of 
the  Cassars  than  to  the  descriptions  of  Frederic 
the  Great,  by  Onno  Klopp,  or  to  the  contributors 
of  the  Frankfurter  Zeitung.  The  pictures  of 
Julius  II  and  Leo  X  by  Raphael,  of  Erasmus  by 
Holbein,  of  Spinola  by  Rubens,  of  Lorenzo  Medici 
by  Giorgio  Vasari,  of  old  Charles  V  and  Paul  III 
by  Titian,  fully  confirmed  the  descriptions  of  their 
biographers;  as  illustrations  they  fitted  the  text; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  statues  and  busts  of  Au- 
gustus, Tiberius,  and  Caligula  gave  the  lie  to 
Tacitus  and  Suetonius.  These  marble  heads 
always  appeared  to  me  like  a  silent  and  noble, 
yet  convincing,  protest  against  the  calumny  of 
hostile  authors,  just  as  the  Philistine  bust  of 
Trajan  taught  me  why  Tacitus  and  Pliny  valued 
him  so  highly,  simply  because  he  did  not  prevent 
others  from  calumniating  the  past.  Treitschke 


36  Treitschke 

differed;  Cesare  Borgia's  handsome  features  did 
not  betray  his  vice ;  Tacitus,  however,  was  a  patriot 
completely  absorbed  in  the  interests  of  his  people, 
who  knew  no  higher  aim  than  the  greatness  of  his 
country,  which  could  not  be  said  of  the  Frankfurter 
Zeitung.  He  admitted  that  Tacitus  had  not  kept 
the  sine  ira  et  studio  which  he  promised;  but  this 
is  not  at  all  the  duty  of  the  historian.  The  his- 
torian should  be  capable  of  both  anger  and  love — 
true  passion  sees  clearer  than  all  the  cold-blooded 
sophists,  and  only  the  historian,  writing  from  a 
party  standpoint,  introduces  us  to  the  life  of  the 
parties,  and  really  guides  us. 

Treitschke's  prestige  amongst  the  students  and 
in  Society  was,  at  that  time,  even  more  firmly 
established  than  among  the  professors.  The  circle 
of  scholars  affected  mostly  a  disparaging  compas- 
sion towards  the  feuilletonist,  who  perhaps  could 
write  an  essay  but  no  book,  and  just  as  the  doors 
of  the  Berlin  Academy  opened  to  him,  only  shortly 
before  his  death — as  he  had  not  been  a  scientist, 
but  merely  a  clever  publicist — there  sat  in  Heidel- 
berg, in  judgment  over  him,  not  only  students 
of  law  and  of  the  Talmud,  but  green,  private 
University  teachers,  so  that  even  now  one  feels 
reminded  of  Karl  Hildebrand's  words:  "If  to-day 
Thucydides  were  to  appear  before  the  public,  no 
doubt  a  Waitz  Seminarist  would  forthwith  explain 
to  him  his  lack  of  method."  He  also  realized  that 
a  new  volume  of  essays  would  not  further  his 
scientific  reputation;  but,  he  writes  to  Freytag: 


His  Life  and  Work  37 

"I  am  a  thousand  times  more  of  a  patriot  than  a 
professor,  and  with  the  real  league  of  scientists  I 
shall  never  be  on  good  terms."  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  Treitschke's  chief  merit  did  not  lie  in  the 
knowledge  he  disseminated,  but  in  the  incompar- 
able effect  which  his  personality  and  his  spirited 
words  produced  on  susceptible  young  students. 
His  motto  was;  "German  every  fibre."  In 
reality,  however,  the  fire  of  his  speech  was  not  due 
to  German  but  to  the  Czech  blood  which  still 
flowed  in  his  veins.  One  felt  reminded  of  what 
other  nations  had  related  regarding  the  impression 
a  Bernard  von  Clairvaux,  an  Arnold  von  Brescia, 
or  a  Johannes  Hus  had  produced  upon  them.  Also 
the  temperament  of  our  German  Chauvinist  was 
not  German  but  Slav.  With  all  his  sunny  cheer- 
fulness, he  was  at  times  for  hours  prone  to  deep 
melancholy.  Quick  to  flare  up  and  as  easily 
appeased,  bearing  no  malice,  inconsiderate  in  his 
expressions  yet  kind  in  actions,  reserved  in  his 
attitude  but  a  good  comrade,  ready  to  assist — 
there  was  nothing  in  him  of  the  German  heavy 
and  mistrustful  temperament.  He  might  just 
as  well  have  been  an  Italian  or  Frenchman,  al- 
though he  had  only  bad  words  for  the  Latin  race. 
An  unfavourable  circumstance  was  that  students 
crowded  to  his  lectures,  but  instead  of  subscribing 
to  them  merely  attended.  "Taking  measures 
in  this  direction  one  spoils  one's  relations  with 
the  young  people,"  he  said;  "but  Hausser  should 
not  have  brought  them  up  this  way."  It  even 


38  Treitschke 

turned  out  that  in  the  absence  of  the  college  sub- 
scriptions he  had  relied  upon  he  could  not  cover 
his  house  expenses;  but  Jolly  stepped  in  and  pro- 
cured him  a  considerable  additional  salary.  In 
Heidelberg  he  quickly  felt  at  home,  thanks  par- 
ticularly to  his  keen  love  of  nature.  After  a  short 
stay  in  another  part  of  the  town  he  moved  into  a 
pleasant  flat  on  the  Frillig  Stift,  but  although  deaf 
the  noise  of  the  main  street  affected  his  nerves. 
With  childish  joy  he  looked  at  the  blooming  lilac- 
trees  in  the  court,  behind  which  stood  a  pavilion 
bearing  an  inscription  in  Greek:  "Look  for  the 
contents  above,"  and  which  Treitschke  inter- 
preted as  meaning  that  liqueurs  were  kept  in  the 
loft  by  the  clergyman  who  had  constructed  it. 
Later  on  we  moved,  almost  at  the  same  time,  to 
the  other  side  of  the  Neckar  River,  and  as  the 
inhabitants  belonged  to  a  party  the  nickname 
"The  Superfluous-ones"  was  originated  for  us. 
Treitschke  settled  on  a  fairly  steep  slope  of  a  hill, 
which  only  permitted  of  an  unimportant  structure 
being  built.  Furthermore,  as  the  contractor  had 
erected  the  house  by  way  of  speculation,  economy 
was  exercised  everywhere,  and  on  one  occasion 
the  terrace  had  to  be  propped  to  prevent  its  drop- 
ping into  the  valley.  But  there  were  beautiful 
roses  at  both  sides  of  the  building,  and,  looking 
over  old  chestnut- trees,  which  screened  the  high- 
way, one  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  river.  It  was 
touching  to  see  how  happy  the  young  husband 
felt  in  his  new,  tiny  home,  in  which  he  was  most 


His  Life  and  Work  39 

hospitable.  He  had  an  inexhaustible  desire  to 
be  among  human  beings,  although  he  did  not  hear 
them. 

Conversation  with  him  was  most  peculiar,  as, 
afraid  to  unlearn  reading  the  movements  of  lips, 
he  did  not  like  people  writing  what  they  wished  to 
convey  to  him.  He  completely  abstained  from 
using  the  hearing- trumpet,  having  suffered  most 
terrible  pains  when  everybody  pressed  forward 
to  speak  into  it.  Besides,  an  unsuccessful  cure 
in  Heidelberg  had  brought  about  his  complete 
deafness.  It  was  soon  said  that  he  understood 
me  best,  and  consequently  I  was  everywhere 
placed  by  his  side.  The  secret  consisted,  however, 
only  in  my  taking  the  trouble  to  place  in  front  the 
catchword  of  what  I  intended  to  convey,  repeating 
it  by  lip-movements  until  he  understood  what  the 
conversation  was  about,  whereupon  he  easily 
guessed  the  rest,  my  nodding  or  shaking  the  head 
assisting  the  suppositions.  All  the  same,  the 
pencil  had  to  come  to  the  rescue  from  time  to  time. 
If  then,  in  the  hurry,  I  wrote  a  word  incorrectly 
and  tried  to  alter  it,  he  good-naturedly  consoled 
me  by  saying  that  he  burned  all  the  bits  of  paper; 
and  upon  somebody  telling  him  he  had  been  able 
to  study  a  complete  conversation  from  the  slips 
of  paper  which  Treitschke  had  left  on  the  table, 
he  replied:  "This  was  still  more  indecent  than  if 
you  had  been  eavesdropping."  At  times  I  com- 
plained of  his  supplementing  my  notes  a  little  too 
freely,  whereupon  he  answered:  "Such  stories  can 


40  Treitschke 

gain  only  by  my  embellishments."  The  duty  of 
acting  as  his  secretary  in  the  Senate  was  a  fairly 
unpleasant  one.  When  a  passionate  explosion 
followed  observations  which  were  not  to  his  liking, 
everybody  looked  furiously  at  me  as  if  I  had  pushed 
burning  tinder  into  the  nostrils  of  the  noble  steed, 
and  yet  I  had  only  written  verbatim  what  had 
been  said.  For  a  time,  therefore,  I  allowed  many 
a  bone  of  contention  to  drop  underneath  the  table, 
but  soon  he  found  it  out,  and  after  several  un- 
pleasant discussions  with  both  parties,  I  requested 
one  of  the  younger  men  of  the  opposition  to  relieve 
me  of  my  duties.  Only  when  the  gentlemen  had 
convinced  themselves  that  the  result  remained 
the  same  was  I  re-appointed.  At  that  time  his 
finding  fault  annoyed  me,  as  my  sole  object  was 
to  avoid  a  quarrel ;  but  later  on  I  realized  how  justi- 
fied he  was  in  closely  watching  his  writers.  When 
for  the  last  time  he  came  to  us,  and  when,  drinking 
his  health,  I  thanked  him  from  the  bottom  of  my 
heart  for  the  happy  moments  his  presence  in  my 
house  had  given,  his  neighbour  noted  down  nothing 
of  my  speech  beyond  attacks  against  the  capital 
and  the  Berlin  student,  whereupon  he  most  in- 
dignantly reproved  my  South  German  prejudice. 
Fortunately,  his  wife,  sitting  opposite,  immediately 
reported  to  him  by  finger  signs,  whereupon  he  at 
once  cordially  raised  his  glass.  To  take  undue 
advantage  of  his  affliction  was,  however,  one  of 
the  sins  he  could  not  condone,  and  one  had 
every  reason  to  be  careful  in  this  respect.  At 


His  Life  and  Work  41 

times  curious  misunderstandings  happened.  When 
once  in  the  summer  the  Princess  Wied  with  her 
daughter,  subsequently  Queen  of  Roumania, 
passed  through  Heidelberg,  Treitschke  was  com- 
manded to  be  present  as  guest  at  dinner.  "Car- 
men Sylva,"  who  already  at  that  time  took  an 
active  interest  in  literature,  selected  him  as  table- 
companion;  he,  however,  not  having  understood 
the  seneschal,  and  thinking  his  fair  neighbour 
a  maid-of-honour,  entertained  her  politely,  but 
persistently  addressed  her  as  "Mein  gnadiges 
Fraulein"  ("My  dear  Miss").  His  clever  and 
sacrificing  wife  never  carried  on  conversation 
without  at  the  same  time  listening  whether  he 
made  himself  understood  with  his  neighbours,  and, 
if  necessary,  rapidly  helped  by  finger-signs,  which 
she  managed  like  an  Italian,  while  continuing 
conversation  with  her  own  neighbour  in  most 
charming  manner.  Her  friends  knew  only  too  well 
how  trying  this  was  for  her.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, it  usually  happened  that  he  remained  the 
centre  of  interest,  and  everybody  eagerly  listened 
to  his  flow  of  conversation.  When  the  neighbours 
forgot  their  duties  he,  visibly  depressed,  would 
look  at  the  surrounding  chattering  crowd,  whose 
words  he  did  not  hear,  and  when,  after  a  great 
outburst  of  laughter,  he  asked  the  cause  of  the 
hilarity,  we  often  were  at  a  loss  to  explain  to  him 
the  trivial  motive.  He  himself  has  poetically 
described  how  since  the  loss  of  his  sense  of  hearing 
nature,  like  a  snow-clad  country,  had  become 


42  Treitschke 

wrapped  in  silence,  and  how  the  happy  youth, 
with  aspiring  temperament  perceives  a  wall 
between  himself  and  his  brothers  which  will 
remain  there  for  ever.  To  me  the  most  touching 
of  all  his  poems  is  the  one  in  which  he  relates  how 
he  first  became  conscious  of  his  deafness  after  a 
neglected,  but  in  itself  by  no  means  dangerous, 
infantine  disease  (chicken-pox). 

Without  this  ailment  Treitschke  would  surely 
have  joined  the  Army.  Some  of  his  relatives 
highly  disapproved  of  his  desire  to  become  a 
private  University  teacher,  and  when  inquiring 
what  else  there  was  for  him  to  do  in  view  of  his 
affliction,  a  gentleman  from  Court,  related  to  him, 
replied:  "Well,  why  not  the  stable  career" — a 
conception  regarding  the  value  of  teaching  which 
he  never  pardoned.  Deafness  remained  the  great 
sorrow  of  his  life,  and  through  it  every  enjoyment 
was  driven  away.  In  a  touching  moment  he 
complained  on  a  certain  occasion  to  my  wife  that 
he  would  never  hear  the  voice  of  his  children. 
"They  must  be  so  sweet  these  children's  voices!" 
And  he  loved  children  so !  He  played  and  romped 
about  with  his  grandchildren;  both  sides  under- 
stood each  other  capitally,  and  it  sounded  strangely 
when  he  who  heard  no  note  sang  to  them  whilst 
they  rode  on  his  knee;  but  they  liked  it,  applauded 
with  their  little  hands,  and  often  they  came  run- 
ning and  asking:  "Grandpa,  please  sing  to  us." 
His  deafness,  however,  did  not  prevent  him  from 
travelling.  Since  Rudolf  Grimm,  who  had  accom- 


His  Life  and  Work  43 

panied  him  to  Italy,  openly  declared  that  these 
duties  were  too  arduous,  the  deaf  man  traversed 
Europe  quite  alone.  Whilst  we  were  often  afraid 
that  he,  when  walking  of  an  evening  in  the  high- 
way and  disappearing  in  the  dark,  might  be  run 
over  by  a  carriage  coming  from  behind,  as  had 
happened  to  him  in  Berlin,  from  his  inability  to 
hear  it,  he  calmly  travelled  about  in  foreign  parts 
where  all  means  of  communication  were  exceeding- 
ly difficult  for  him.  With  the  inauguration  of  the 
new  shipping  service  he  travelled  to  England,  "in 
order  to  look  at  this  English  crew  a  little  closer." 
When  returning  from  Spain,  which  his  friends  had 
considered  particularly  risky,  he,  loudly  laughing, 
entered  their  wine-bar,  and  before  having  taken 
off  his  coat  he  started  to  relate:  "Well,  now,  these 
Spaniards!"  In  the  same  way  he  had  traversed 
Holland  and  France  in  order  to  impress  historical 
localities  upon  his  memory.  Considering  the 
dangers  and  embarrassments  he  was  exposed  to 
through  his  lack  of  hearing,  it  will  be  admitted 
that  unusual  courage  was  necessary  for  these 
journeys,  but  he  undertook  them  solely  in  order 
to  supplement  what  had  escaped  him,  through 
his  deafness,  in  the  tales  of  others. 

The  whole  historical  past  of  the  country  being 
ever  present  before  his  eyes,  he,  although  deaf, 
derived  more  benefit  from  his  travels  than  people 
in  full  possession  of  all  senses.  Just  as  when  pass- 
ing the  Ehrenberg  narrow  pass  he  regretfully 
reflected  that  "Our  Maurice"  had  not  caught 


44  Treitschke 

Spanish  Charles,  so  he  sees,  in  Bruegge,  Charles  V 
in  Spanish  attire  coming  round  the  corner;  in 
Geneva  the  oil  paintings  of  Calvin  and  of  his 
fellow-artists  relate  to  him  old  stories;  and  in 
Holland  the  Mynheers  and  high  and  mighties 
on  every  occasion  entered  into  conversation  with 
him.  His  clear  eyes  were  of  such  use  to  him  that 
they  amply  compensated  his  loss  of  hearing.  But, 
however  strenuously  he  resisted,  his  affliction  in 
many  ways  reacted  upon  his  general  disposition. 
There  was  something  touching  in  the  need  for 
help  of  this  clever  and  handsome  man,  and  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  his  amiability  was  partly 
its  cause.  We  also  told  him  that  the  world  bene- 
fited by  his  retiring  disposition,  and  that  he  was 
spared  listening  to  the  many  stupidities  and 
coarsenesses  which  so  often  spoilt  our  good  hu- 
mour. I  firmly  believe  that  being  deaf  he  was  able 
better  to  concentrate  his  thoughts,  but  the  lack 
of  control  in  hearing  himself  and  hearing  others 
speak  and  express  themselves  had  a  detrimental 
effect  upon  him.  Sound  having  become  practi- 
cally a  closed  chapter  to  him  whilst  he  was  still  a 
student,  he  spoke  during  the  whole  of  his  life  in 
the  manner  of  students  and  used  the  language  of 
his  student  days.  When  once  suggesting  he  should 
come  an  hour  sooner  to  our  daily  meeting-place 
he  greatly  shocked  the  wives  of  counsellors  present 
by  replying:  "Da  ist  ja  kein  Schwein  da"  (ap- 
proximately meaning,  "There  won't  be  a  blooming 
soul  there").  When  in  the  presence  of  several 


His  Life  and  Work  45 

officers  at  Leipzig  he  expressed  the  opinion  that 
the  new  Saxon  Hussar  uniform  was  the  nearest 
approach  to  a  monkey's  jacket,  he  came  very  near 
to  having  to  fight  a  duel.  Quite  good-naturedly, 
without  wishing  to  offend  anybody,  he  compared 
the  looks  of  a  lady-student  to  a  squashed  bug. 
In  Parliament  likewise  he  was  on  a  certain  occasion 
unexpectedly  called  to  order  because  he  found  it 
quite  natural  to  speak  of  the  haughtiness  of  Deputy 
Richter  as  if  it  were  impossible  to  offend  him.  It 
had  to  be  considered  that  not  hearing  himself  he 
did  not  hear  others  speak,  and  Messrs  Caprivi, 
Hahnke,  Hinzpeter,  and  Gussfeld,  who  during  the 
last  years  were  his  favourite  targets  for  criticism, 
deserve  great  praise  for  putting  up  with  his  epi- 
grams— his  bon-mots  certainly  did  not  remain 
unknown  in  Berlin.  His  pulpit  expressions  also  at 
times  savoured  of  student  slang,  so  that  the  worthy 
fathers  of  the  University  disapprovingly  shook 
their  wise  heads.  His  friends,  however,  thought  he 
was  ex  lege  because  of  his  deafness;  and  he  was 
unique  in  that  on  the  one  hand  he  was  the  best 
educated,  refined  gentleman,  with  exquisite 
manners,  yet  when  aroused  he  discharged  a  volley 
of  invective  hardly  to  be  expected  from  such 
aristocratic  lips;  on  the  other  hand,  his  sociable 
nature  found  the  seclusion  due  to  his  deafness  very 
oppressive.  At  times  as  a  student  in  Heidelberg 
he  had  to  endure  periods  of  most  abject  melan- 
choly, which,  however,  his  strong  nature  always 
succeeded  in  conquering. 


46  Treitschke 

IV. 

South  Germany  and  Baden,  even  after  the 
campaign  of  1866,  were  a  difficult  field  for  Treitsch- 
ke. Soon  after  the  war  he  wrote  to  Gutschmid 
he  did  not  relish  returning  to  Baden  as  conditions 
there  were  "too  awful."  Even  now  this  com- 
municative comrade,  who  quite  impartially  con- 
sidered the  existence  of  the  Small  States  a  nuisance, 
had  on  every  occasion  to  come  into  conflict  with 
the  Model  State.  He  hated  the  system  of  Small 
States  just  because  it  diverted  patriotism,  the 
noblest  human  instinct,  in  favour  of  unworthy 
trifles.  Politics  were  for  him  a  part  of  ethics  and 
the  unity  of  Germany  a  moral  claim.  Particular- 
ists  were  therefore  to  him  beings  of  morally  inferior 
value.  Only  hesitatingly  he  admitted  that  the 
Badenese  since  1866  had  begun  to  mend  their 
ways.  "It  is  true,"  he  wrote  to  Freytag,  "that 
the  conversion  has  made  considerable  progress, 
but  it  is  noticeable  more  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
than  in  their  hearts."  Nobody  in  the  whole  of 
Baden  was,  however,  in  favour  of  mediatization 
of  the  Small  States,  which  he,  in  his  Freiburg  Essay 
entitled  Confederation  and  Single  State,  had 
plainly  demanded.  The  aim  of  the  Single  State 
to  render  conditions  uniform  is  not  our  ideal  to-day. 
We  are  quite  content  that  the  University  of  Leip- 
zig should  stand  by  the  side  of  that  of  Berlin,  that 
the  traditions  of  Potsdam  and  Sans  Souci  should 
be  preserved  in  the  same  way  as  those  of  Weimar 


His  Life  and  Work  47 

and  Karlsruhe,  and  tnat  Dresden  and  Munich  art 
should  be  appreciated  as  much  as  that  of  Berlin. 
How  many  professors  are  there  who  would  desire 
to  see  all  German  Universities  under  the  same 
inspectorate  as  the  Prussian  ones?  Unity  as  far 
as  the  outside  world  is  concerned,  variety  inter- 
nally, is  our  ideal,  to  which  Treitschke  likewise 
became  reconciled  after  hearing  that  the  Army  and 
external  politics  would  not  be  affected  by  internal 
polyarchy.  Bismarck's  temperate  words  to 
Jolly,  "If  I  include  Bavaria  in  the  Empire  I  must 
make  such  arrangements  as  to  make  the  people 
feel  happy  in  it,"  contain  more  political  wisdom 
than  Treitschke's  gay  prescription :  Der  Bien  muss. 
Compared  with  the  errors  of  our  ingenious  friend, 
Bismarck's  "political  eye"  and  his  infallible  judg- 
ment of  values  and  realities  can  be  appreciated  in 
its  true  light;  under  a  weak  Regent,  Unitarian 
Germany  would  have  become  a  new  Poland,  under 
a  violent  one  a  second  Russia. 

It,  however,  redounds  to  Treitschke's  honour 
that  one  by  one  he  renounced  his  first  ideals,  such 
as  destruction  of  the  Small  States,  Single  State, 
Parliamentarism,  humiliation  of  Austria,  and  free 
trade,  subsequent  to  his  having  found  in  Bismarck 
his  political  superior.  When  Bismarck's  dismissal 
taught  him  that  in  Prussia  political  impossibilities 
do  not  exist  either,  his  eyes  were  opened  to  a  good 
many  other  matters.  Henceforth  no  complaint 
could  be  lodged  against  him  regarding  adoration 
of  the  Crown;  rather  the  reverse  was  the  case. 


48  Treitschke 

In  1867  Baden  was  for  him  merely  das  Landle  (the 
little  country),  but  all  the  same  he  apparently  did 
not  like  to  hear  from  us  that  our  Grand  Duchy 
comprised  more  square  miles  than  his  Kingdom  of 
Saxony.  He  strictly  adhered  to  his  dogma  of  the 
Rhine  Convention,  tendencies  to  Napoleonic 
kingdoms — nay,  he  even  attributed  to  them  aims 
of  aggrandizement.  "What  people  thought  of 
1866" — so  he  relates  in  his  essay  on  the  Constitu- 
tional Kingdom — "becomes  apparent  from  the 
painful  exclamation  of  a  well-meaning  Prince  to  the 
effect:  'What  a  pity  we  were  at  that  time  not  on 
Prussia's  side,  as  we  also  should  then  have  en- 
larged our  territory."1  But  as  formerly  in  Frei- 
burg, so  here,  he  misunderstood  the  population. 
The  fact  that  the  developments  in  the  summer  of 
1870  appeared  to  him  like  outpourings  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  only  proves  that  the  deaf  man  never  under- 
stood the  ways  of  our  Palatines.  Favourable 
disposition  towards  the  Rhine  Convention,  which 
he  suspected  everywhere,  was  only  to  be  found  in 
the  elegant  Ultramontane  circles  in  which  he 
moved,  and  in  the  democratic  journals  which  he 
for  his  own  journalistic  purposes  read  more  than 
other  people.  It  proved  perhaps  more  correct 
when  he  wrote,  "The  South  Germans  quietly 
aspire  to  the  Main  with  the  reservation,  however, 
to  revile  it  in  their  journals. " 

Bismarck  did  not  as  yet  enjoy  general  confidence, 
but  had  he  wanted  Baden  the  Chamber  would  not 
have  refused.  The  factions  in  the  town  caused  him 


His  Life  and  Work  49 

amusement ;  Heidelberg  had  the  advantage  of  two 
political  journals:  the  Heidelberg  Journal  and  the 
Heidelberg  Zeitung,  which  were  both  Liberal  and 
had  accomplished  all  that  in  a  small  town  could 
be  reasonably  expected  of  them.  On  this  subject 
he  sketched,  in  his  essay  entitled  Parties  and 
Factions  (1871),  the  following  pleasant  picture: 
"Who  is  not  aware  of  how  in  towns  of  Central 
Germany  two  journals  side  by  side  eke  out  a  bare 
and  miserable  existence,  both  belonging  to  the 
same  party,  yet,  for  the  sake  of  their  valued 
clientele,  constantly  fighting  like  cats?  Who  does 
not  know  these  journals  of  librarians  outside  whose 
door  the  editor  stands  on  duty,  a  polite  host, 
deferentially  asking  what  the  honourable  public 
desires  to  partake  of?  Tre  fratelli  ire  castelli  still 
applies  to  our  average  press. " 

Filled  by  the  desire  to  continue  the  worthy 
labours  of  the  year  1866  he  enthusiastically  adopt- 
ed Mathy's  idea  to  include  Baden  in  the  North 
German  Convention,  and  thought  it  unkind  that 
Bismarck  failed  to  honour  Mathy's  memorandum 
on  the  subject  with  a  reply.  If  Prussia  should  not 
carry  out  her  plans  he  was  afraid  the  Pan- Germans 
in  Baden  would  again  become  masters  of  the  situa- 
tion, and  he  added:  "If  Bavaria,  Wurtemberg, 
and  Baden  should  go  with  Austria,  even  the 
European  situation  will  assume  a  different  physiog- 
nomy. "  All  the  same,  he  was  at  that  time  too 
closely  in  touch  with  Bismarck  to  advocate  too 
strongly  the  Mathy  plan  in  the  A  nnuals.  Treitsch- 


50  Treitschke 

ke  stigmatized  as  obtrusive  the  Lasker  Parlia- 
mentary Bill  of  February,  1871,  Lasker  acting 
as  attorney  for  the  Badenese  Government,  which 
he  was  not,  and  surprising  Bismarck  with  his 
proposal  without  having  first  consulted  him. 

Mathy's  death  on  February  4,  1868,  affected 
Treitschke  all  the  more  as  Mathy  had  influenced 
him  considerably  in  his  decision  to  gain  for  a  second 
time  a  footing  in  Baden.  Besides,  Treitschke 
warmly  remembered  Mathy's  beautiful  trait  in 
assisting  younger  men  whom  he  considered  promis- 
ing. "You  belong  to  the  few,"  Freytag  admitted 
to  him,  "who  have  fully  grasped  Mathy's  love  and 
faith. "  It  was,  however,  not  only  Mathy's  sweet- 
ness of  character  which  he  had  detected  beneath 
the  caustic  ways  of  the  old  Ulysses,  but  also  his 
political  reliability.  "I  still  cannot  get  over  it," 
he  mournfully  wrote  to  Freytag;  "among  all  the 
old  gentlemen  of  my  acquaintance  he  was  to  me 
the  dearest  and  the  one  deserving  of  greatest 
respect."  "The  real  Badenese,"  he  said  in 
another  letter,  "never  really  cared  for  their  first 
politician,  and  your  book  again  shows  clearly  the 
sin  for  which  Mathy  never  will  be  pardoned — 
character."  Another  letter  to  the  same  friend 
in  August,  1868,  runs  as  follows:  "Here  in  the 
South  the  disintegration  of  order  continues.  The 
recent  Constitutional  Festival  has  vividly  re- 
minded me  of  our  never-to-be-forgotten  Mathy. 
How  the  world  has  changed  in  twenty-five  years 
since  Mathy  organized  the  last  Badenese  Con- 


His  Life  and  Work  51 

stitutional  Festival !  Thank  goodness,  the  belief 
in  this  particularist  magnificence  has  to-day  com- 
pletely disappeared.  The  festival  was  an  osten- 
sible failure,  a  forced  and  feigned  demonstration. 
The  Ultramontanes  kept  aloof  because  they  hated 
Jolly  and  Beyer,  and  the  Nationalists  who  partici- 
pated for  that  reason  openly  admitted  that  they 
had  longed  for  the  happy  end  of  the  old  man." 
His  depreciative  opinion  of  the  conditions  in  Baden 
finally  developed  into  slight  when  a  few  weeks 
after  the  Constitutional  Festival  the  ministerial 
candidates  Bluntschli,  Lamey,  and  Keifer,  who 
had  gone  over  on  the  formation  of  the  new  Minis- 
try, attempted  to  overthrow  the  Ministry  favour- 
ably disposed  towards  Prussia  by  convoking  the 
Liberal  deputies  at  Offenburg.  In  the  Prussian 
Annuals  he  now  called  upon  his  North  German 
friends  in  disdainful  terms  to  study  the  pamphlet 
of  these  gentlemen  against  Jolly,  in  order  to  gain  a 
somewhat  more  correct  idea  of  the  political  state 
of  affairs  in  Baden.  In  his  opinion  it  was  a  sort  of 
"Zuriputsch"  arranged  by  the  Swiss  gentlemen, 
Bluntschli,  Schenkel,  and  Renaud.  It  might  have 
applied  as  far  as  Heidelberg  was  concerned,  but 
the  country  was  really  attached  to  Lamey,  whose 
name  was  tied  up  with  the  fall  of  the  Concordat, 
and  whose  canon  laws  of  1860,  making  a  Catholic 
country  of  Baden,  were  at  that  time  praised  by  all 
of  us  as  the  corner-stone  of  liberty  and  political 
wisdom.  Treitschke's  only  answer  to  Bluntschli 's 
agitation  for  energetic  revision  of  the  Constitution 


52  Treitschke 

was  to  leave  the  Paragon  State  in  its  present  form 
until  Prussia  would  absorb  the  whole.  The  at- 
tempt to  overthrow  the  Ministry  failed  as  the 
Regent  had  been  left  out  of  account.  In  Heidel- 
berg, Treitschke,  at  an  assembly  of  citizens,  took 
up  the  cudgels  for  Jolly,  and  was  principally 
opposed  by  Schenkel,  who  declared  that  he  would 
not  allow  himself  to  be  threatened  by  the  sword  of 
Herr  von  Beyer.  Surprised,  Bluntschli,  however, 
wrote  in  his  diary  that  the  citizens  applauded 
Treitschke,  who  spoke  for  Jolly,  no  less  than 
Schenkel,  who  spoke  against  him.  When  the 
whole  question  was  brought  before  a  second  and 
very  largely-frequented  assembly  of  the  Liberal 
Party  in  Offenburg,  Bluntschli  made  Goldschmidt 
and  Treitschke's  other  friends  promise  that 
Treitschke  should  abstain  from  speaking  as  he 
would  upset  all  peace  proposals.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, immediately  declared  he  could  not  be  forced  to 
maintain  silence.  At  least  a  thousand  men  con- 
gregated from  all  parts  of  the  country,  more  than 
the  big  hall "  Zum  Salmen  "  was  capable  of  holding. 
Eckard,  subsequently  Manheim  bank  manager, 
sat  in  the  chair;  on  the  part  of  the  Fronde,  Kieper, 
instructed  by  Jolly,  spoke,  and  for  Jolly,  Kusel 
from  Karlsruhe  addressed  the  meeting.  Treitschke 
as  a  Prussian  allowed  the  Badenese  to  speak  first, 
and  only  towards  the  finish  did  he  ascend  the  plat- 
form. A  contributor  of  the  Taglische  Rundschau 
gave  the  following  account:  "The  meeting  had 
lasted  for  a  considerable  time,  and  the  audience, 


His  Life  and  Work  53 

after  standing  for  hours  closely  packed  in  the 
heavy,  hot  air,  was  tired,  when  a  person  unknown 
to  us  started  speaking.  His  delivery  was  slow  and 
hesitating,  with  a  peculiar  guttural  sound,  and  his 
intonation  was  monotonous.  Citizens  and  peas- 
ants amongst  whom  I  stood  looked  at  each  other 
astonished  and  indignant.  Who  was  this  appar- 
ently not  very  happy  speaker  who  dared  to  claim 
the  patience  of  the  assembly?  We  were  told  it 
was  Professor  Treitschke  of  Heidelberg.  At  first 
ill-humoured,  but  soon  with  growing  interest,  we 
followed  his  speech,  which  gradually  became  more 
animated.  The  power  and  depth  of  thoughts  the 
compelling  logic  proofs  adduced,  the  clearness  and 
force  of  language,  and  above  all  the  fire  of  patriot- 
ism, all  this  captivated  the  listeners  and  carried 
them  irresistibly  away.  The  outward  deficiencies 
of  the  lecturer  were  now  unobserved;  attentively 
with  breathless  excitement,  these  simple  people 
listened  to  the  orator,  who  spoke  with  the  force  of 
the  holiest  conviction;  and  when  finishing  with 
the  exhortation  to  set  aside  all  separating  barriers 
for  the  sake  of  the  country,  a  real  hurricane  of 
enthusiasm  broke  forth.  The  audience  crowded 
round  the  speaker  and  cheered  him;  he  was  lifted 
by  strong  arms  amid  ceaseless  enthusiasm.  It  was 
the  climax  of  the  day.  Never  since  have  I  wit- 
nessed a  similar  triumph  of  eloquence. " 

He  had  appealed  particularly  to  the  peasants 
present  by  his  outspoken  and  simple  words. 
Schenkel  likewise  was  disarmed.  Heidelberg 


54  Treitschke 

friends  related  how  Schenkel,  who  in  Heidelberg 
had  contested  Treitschke's  speech  in  favour  of 
Jolly,  immediately  afterwards  advanced  towards 
the  platform  in  order  to  speak,  but  Treitschke's 
utterances  had  rendered  unnecessary  a  rejoinder. 
When,  on  the  other  hand,  I  asked  Treitschke  after 
his  return  whether  in  his  opinion  peace  would  be  a 
lasting  one,  he  replied:  "Oh,  Lord,  no!  the  lack 
of  character  is  much  too  great."  In  a  still  more 
disdainful  manner  and  full  of  passionate  exaspera- 
tion against  Bluntschli  he  wrote  to  Freytag: 
"Jolly  understands  very  well  how  to  assert  himself 
here;  daily  he  cuts  a  piece  off  the  big  Liberal  list 
of  wishes,  but  immediately  a  new  one  grows  be- 
neath. Where  is  this  to  lead?  Moreover,  there 
are  blackguards  like  this  miserable  Bluntschli  at 
the  head  of  the  patriots!  Nokk,  my  brother-in- 
law,  who  is  well  able  to  judge  the  situation,  has 
long  ago  despaired  of  a  peaceful  solution. " 

In  January,  1870,  whilst  staying  at  Heidelberg, 
and  shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  war,  the  second 
collection  of  historic  political  essays  was  published. 
The  editor's  intention  was  to  publish  them  before 
Christmas,  but  Treitschke  delayed  matters.  "I 
hate  everything  suggestive  of  business,"  he  told 
me,  "and  I  don't  want  to  belong  to  the  Christmas 
authors. "  He  was  also  averse  to  editions  in  parts. 
The  essay  on  Cavour,  which  shortly  afterwards 
appeared  translated  in  Italian,  brought  him  the 
Italian  Commander  Cross — a  necklace,  as  his  wife 
said.  When  one  of  his  friends  had  fallen  in  dis- 


His  Life  and  Work  55 

grace  on  account  of  a  biting  article  in  the  Weser 
Zeitung  attributed  to  him,  Treitschke  said:  "If 
the  man  wants  to  carry  a  chamberlain's  key  and 
six  decorations,  he  might  as  well  have  the  muzzle 
belonging  to  it";  and  when  asking  him  whether 
this  also  applied  to  him,  he  replied:  "No,  but  I 
have  not  been  asking  for  it."  This  volume  of 
historic  essays  contained  the  treatise  on  the  Repub- 
lic of  the  Netherlands — full  of  sparkling  descrip- 
tions of  Holland  and  her  national  life,  which 
proved  that  not  in  vain  had  he  brought  his  Brief je 
van  de  uuren  van  hat  vertrekk,  i.  e.  his  railway  book- 
let for  the  land  of  the  frogs  and  the  ducats.  Par- 
ticularly weighty,  however,  was  his  essay  on 
French  Constitution  and  Bonapartism,  in  which 
he  proved  that  Bonapartism  had  revived,  thanks 
to  the  Napoleonic  fundaments  of  State  having 
remained,  a  circumstance  which  even  after  the 
fall  of  Napoleon  III,  and  in  spite  of  all  their  de- 
feats, made  him  believe  in  the  return  of  the  Bona- 
partes.  His  essay  On  the  Constitutional  Kingdom, 
forming  part  of  this  collection,  and  containing 
views  on  the  wretchedness  of  Small  State  Court 
life;  on  the  poverty  of  thought  and  the  rudeness 
of  the  South  German  Press;  on  the  South  Ger- 
man's respectful  awe  of  the  deeds  of  Napoleon,  the 
national  arch-enemy;  and  on  the  bustling  vanity 
of  Church  authorities,  could  not  create  a  great 
impression  after  his  previous  and  much  stronger 
dissertations.  He  himself  was  dejected  owing  to 
the  scantiness  of  enthusiasm  aroused  by  his  per- 


56  Treitschke 

sistent  appeals  "to  discard  decayed  political 
power,"  to  upset  the  Napoleonic  crowns  and  to 
continue  the  laudable  efforts  of  1866.  Some  friends 
likened  his  situation  to  that  of  Borne,  who  is  the 
object  of  criticism  in  one  of  the  essays,  and  who, 
in  his  Paris  letters,  always  predicted  anew  the 
revolution  which  always  failed  to  materialize.  By 
Napoleon's  declaration  of  war  "this  sturdy  cen- 
tury" took  the  last  stride  towards  its  goal. 

Being  a  border  power,  Baden  naturally  feared 
the  war  which  Treitschke  was  pining  for.  At  that 
time  already  his  mind  was  clear  as  to  the  weakness 
of  the  Empire,  and  the  profligate  stupidity  of  the 
French  people.  Being  constantly  in  touch  with 
Berlin  he  was  better  informed  regarding  certain 
developments  than  we  were.  When  speaking  to 
him  for  the  first  time  after  the  declaration  of  war 
he  solemnly  said:  "I  think  of  the  humiliation  we 
escaped!  If  Bismarck  had  not  drawn  up  so 
cleverly  the  telegram  on  the  Benedetti  affair  the 
King  would  have  yielded  again. "  At  the  general 
drinking  bout  improvised  by  the  students  prior 
to  going  to  the  front  or  to  barracks,  Treitschke 
was  received  as  if  he  had  been  the  commander-in- 
chief ,  and  he  certainly  was  on  that  evening.  The 
speech  of  Pro-Rector  Bluntschli,  opening  the  ball, 
had  a  decidedly  sobering  effect.  He  pointed  out 
how  many  a  young  life  would  come  to  an  early  end, 
how  many  a  handsome  fortune  would  be  lost,  how 
many  a  house  and  village  would  be  burned  to  ashes, 
etc.  The  speech  was  written  down,  and  when 


His  Life  and  Work  57 

shown  to  Treitschke  he  merely  said,  "S'isch  halt  a 
Schwizer"  ("He  is,  after  all,  only  a  Swiss"). 
Capital  words  by  Zeller  followed:  "We  have 
heard  the  crowing  of  the  Gallic  cock,  and  the 
roaring  of  Mars ;  but  there  is  only  one  to  tame  wild 
Ares,  and  that  is  Pallas  Athene,  the  Goddess  of 
Clever  Strategy,  and  upon  her  we  rely."  When, 
subsequently,  Treitschke  rose,  applause  and  ac- 
clamations prevented  him  for  some  time  from 
making  himself  heard.  His  speech  expressed  joy 
at  the  events  happening  in  our  lifetime,  and  ex- 
hortations to  prove  as  worthy  as  the  fighters  of 
1813.  Ideas  and  colour  of  speech  were  as  count- 
less as  the  bubbles  in  a  glass  of  champagne,  but 
they  intoxicated.  His  magnificent  peroration 
terminated  approximately  in  the  following  manner: 
"Fichte  dismissed  German  youth  to  the  Holy 
War  with  the  motto,  'Win  or  die';  but  we  say, 
'  Win  at  any  price ! ' '  Already  he  had  received  a 
more  cordial  reception  than  anyone,  but  now 
hundreds  rushed  forward  with  raised  glasses  eager 
to  drink  his  health.  The  shouts  of  enthusiasm 
threatened  the  safety  of  floor  and  ceiling.  As  one 
crowd  receded,  so  another  surged  round  him,  just 
as  waves  beget  waves.  I  have  seen  many  teachers 
honoured  under  similar  circumstances,  all  with  a 
smile  of  flattered  vanity  on  their  lips,  but  never 
had  homage  assumed  such  proportions.  Treitsch- 
ke's  face  showed  outspoken  joy  at  these  warm- 
hearted young  people,  who  surely  would  not  fail 
to  give  a  good  account  of  themselves,  and  it  was 


58  Treitschke 

distinctly  annoying  to  him  that  the  following 
winter  he  had  to  give  lectures  to  those  who  had 
not  joined  the  ranks.  He  was,  however,  deeply 
moved  at  the  nation  having  risen  as  one  man,  and 
he  apologized  for  all  the  unkind  words  he  had 
uttered  previously.  Later  on,  he  wrote:  "During 
those  days  in  Germany  it  seemed  as  if  humanity 
had  improved. "  The  song  on  the  Prussian  eagle, 
which  from  Hohenzollern  flew  towards  the  north 
and  now  returns  southwards — a  subject  inspired 
by  Baumgarten —  is  a  beautiful  memento  of  his 
elated  feelings  at  that  time. 

During  the  ensuing  period  he  led  a  surprisingly 
retired  life,  and  we  heard  only  that  he  was  writing. 
When  meeting  him  shortly  before  the  days  of 
Saarbruck,  he  looked  pale  and  excited.  "What  a 
long  time  it  takes, "  he  said,  "for  such  great  armies 
to  be  brought  together!  The  tension  is  almost  un- 
bearable."  He  was  visibly  ill  with  excitement. 
When  the  days  of  Worth  and  Spichern  had  happily 
passed,  we  met  at  the  Museum  to  study  the  tele- 
grams which  arrived  hourly.  He,  however,  failed 
to  turn  up,  and  it  was  said  he  was  writing.  There 
was  a  good  deal  of  simulated  activity  about,  but 
for  him  there  was  nothing  in  particular  to  do.  At 
last  his  excellent  essay,  What  We  Demand  of  France, 
saw  the  light  of  day,  and  at  the  same  time  it 
appeared  in  the  Prussian  Annuals.  Now  it  was 
evident  what  he  had  been  doing  in  seclusion. 
Everybody  was  amazed  at  the  mass  of  detail 
collected  during  the  short  interval,  in  order  to 


His  Life  and  Work  59 

impress  the  reader  with  the  thoroughly  German 
character  of  Alsace.  Of  almost  every  little  town 
he  knew  a  story  by  which  it  became  intertwined 
with  the  German  past.  There  was  Alsatian  local 
tradition  galore  in  the  book,  as  if  he  at  all  times  had 
lived  with  these  people.  To  his  mind  the  fact  that 
the  Alsatians  at  the  time  would  not  hear  of  Ger- 
many did  not  make  them  French.  "The  mind  of 
a  nation  is  not  formed  by  contemporary  genera- 
tions only,  but  by  those  following."  Erwin  von 
Steinbach  and  Sebastian  Brandt,  also,  were  of 
some  account,  and,  after  reviewing  the  German 
past  of  the  country,  he  asks:  "Is  this  millennium, 
rich  in  German  history,  to  be  wiped  out  by  two 
centuries  of  French  supremacy?"  In  regard  to 
the  future  of  Alsace  he  was  from  the  first  convinced 
it  would  have  to  become  a  Prussian  province,  as 
Prussian  administration  alone  possessed  the  power 
to  rapidly  assimilate  it.  Only  when  convinced  of 
the  realization  of  Unitarian  ideas  a  Prussian,  as  he 
now  always  called  himself,  could  desire  to  see  a 
frontier  of  Prussia  extending  from  Aachen  to  Mul- 
house.  To  make  out  of  Alsace  an  independent 
State,  enjoying  European  guarantee  of  neutrality, 
as  proposed  by  Roggenbach  in  the  Reichsrath, 
would  have  meant  creating  a  new  Belgium  on  our 
south-west  coast,  in  which  the  Catholic  Church 
would  have  been  the  only  reality,  and  Treitschke, 
in  his  essay  of  1870,  replied  thereto  by  referring  to 
the  "disgusting  aspect  of  the  nation  Luxemburg- 
oise, "  although  in  the  Annuals  he  ostensibly  spared 


60  Treitschke 

the  quaint  statesman,  who  was  his  friend.  "Let 
us  attach  Alsace  to  the  Rhine  Province,"  he  said; 
"we  shall  then  have  a  dozen  more  opposition  votes 
in  Parliament,  and  what  does  that  matter?  The 
rest  you  leave  to  Prussian  administration." 
Neither  we  nor  he  could  foresee  that  in  thirty 
years  it  would  not  achieve  more;  but  he  did  not 
fail  to  point  out  that  the  only  cause  of  the  failure 
was  the  creation  of  the  "  Reichsland, "  a  hybrid 
which  was  neither  fish  nor  flesh.  He,  however, 
shared  Freytag's  aversion  for  the  title  of  Emperor, 
which,  in  his  opinion,  bore  too  much  of  black,  red, 
gold,  and  Bonapartist  reminiscences.  Both  wished 
for  a  German  King;  but  finally  Bluntschli's  com- 
mon-sense prevailed,  he  having  suggested,  "The 
peasant  knows  that  an  Emperor  is  more  than  a 
King,  and  for  that  reason  the  Chief  of  an  Empire 
must  be  called  Emperor;  besides,  it  will  be  better 
for  the  three  Kings;  they  will  then  know  it,  too, " 
saying  which  the  stout  Swiss  laughed  heartily. 

On  the  other  hand,  Treitschke  never  became 
reconciled  to  Bavaria's  reserved  rights.  He  spoke 
of  a  new  treaty  of  Ried,  similar  to  that  which,  in 
1813,  guaranteed  sovereignty  to  Bavaria,  and 
expressed  anger  at  the  weakly  Constitution  which 
reverted  again  to  federalism.  With  malicious  joy 
he  reported  that  the  former  Pan-Austrian  fogy, 
when  examining  students  for  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Law,  now  always  questioned  on  Bavarian  re- 
served rights.  The  whole  arrangement  with 
Bavaria  and  Wurtemberg  appeared  to  him  "like 


His  Life  and  Work  61 

a  Life  Insurance  Policy  of  the  Napoleonic  crowns 
with  his  magnanimous  Prussia,  which  compelled 
him  to  adjourn  his  Unitarian  plans  ad  Gracas 
calendas." 

It  is  also  peculiar  to  what  a  small  extent  he 
shared  in  the  triumphant  tone  displayed  every- 
where after  the  war.  Sybel's  essay,  What  We  might 
Learn  of  France,  had  his  full  approval.  He  was 
disgusted  with  the  way  the  journalists  in  the  news- 
papers, the  teacher  in  the  chair,  and  the  clergyman 
in  the  pulpit  gave  vent  to  their  patriotic  effusions. 
In  his  letters  he  likewise  spoke  slightingly  of 
the  modern  customary  orations  regarding  German 
virtue  and  French  vice.  The  more  he  disliked 
the  remnants  of  particularism  in  the  new  Consti- 
tution, the  less  he  was  disposed  to  admire  the 
Germans,  who,  in  his  opinion,  had  forfeited  the 
greatest  reward  of  great  times  by  their  own  in- 
dividualism. This  it  was  which  distinguished  him 
from  the  ordinary  Chauvinist,  and  only  too  well  he 
realized  in  how  many  things  the  nation,  in  spite  of 
all  successes,  had  remained  behind  his  ideals. 

Nobody,  however,  has  given  more  beautiful 
expression  to  the  deep  and  serious  thoughts  with 
which  we  celebrated  peace  in  1871.  Like  a  prayer- 
book  we  read  the  essay  in  the  Annuals,  in  which  he 
opened  his  heart.  He  himself  had  lost  his  only 
brother  at  Gravelotte,  my  wife  hers  at  La  Chartre. 
The  Prussian  nobility  was  in  mourning;  he,  how- 
ever, consoled  us:  "May  common  grief  still  more 
than  great  successes  unite  our  people  formerly  at 


62  Treitschke 

variance  with  each  other.  Rapidly  die  away  the 
shouts  of  victory,  long  remain  the  deep  lines  of 
grief.  Who  will  count  the  tears  which  have  been 
shed  around  the  Christmas-tree?  Who  has  seen 
the  hundred  thousand  grieved  hearts  from  the 
Alps  to  the  sea,  who,  like  a  big,  devout  community, 
have  pinned  their  faith  again  to  the  splendour  of 
the  Fatherland?"  Actuated  by  the  same  senti- 
ments, I  had  preached,  shortly  before,  in  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  on  "Blessed  are  ye  who 
have  suffered, "  and  therefore  could  doubly  appre- 
ciate his  efforts  to  touch  the  people's  innermost 
feelings.  His  words  have  never  been  forgotten. 


V. 


The  few  years  which  Treitschke  spent  in  Heidel- 
berg after  the  war  were,  as  he  himself  admitted, 
the  happiest  of  his  life.  His  tiny  house,  overlook- 
ing the  Neckar  and  Rhine  Valley,  was  for  him  a 
constant  source  of  joy,  and  proudly  he  would  take 
his  visitors  to  the  top  of  the  vineyard,  from  which 
the  Speyer  Dom  and  Donner  Mountain,  near 
Worms,  were  visible.  Immediately  adjacent  to 
his  property  excavations  had  been  made  in  times 
gone  by,  and  even  now  bricks  and  fragments  of 
pottery,  bearing  the  stamp  of  the  Roman  Legation 
were  to  be  found.  Thus  he  had  historical  ground 
even  under  his  feet.  When,  occasionally,  on  my 
return  from  a  visit  about  midnight,  I  still  saw 
lights  in  his  study,  I  could  not  refrain  from  think- 


His  Life  and  Work  63 

ing  of  Schiller,  who,  likewise,  found  the  late  hours 
of  night  most  propitious  for  his  creations.  It 
would  be  a  mistaken  idea  to  think  that  Treitschke, 
vivaciously  as  he  lectured,  wrote  his  works  with- 
out exhaustive  preparations.  He  just  served  as  a 
proof  that  genius  and  industry  go  hand-in-hand. 
Thanks  to  his  iron  constitution,  he  could  work 
until  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  yet  be  gay  and 
full  of  life  the  following  day.  Surrounded  by  his 
small  crowd  of  children — two  girls  and  a  boy — and 
with  his  elegant  and  slim-looking  wife  by  his  side, 
he  felt  truly  happy.  It  was  a  thoroughly  aristo- 
cratic and  harmonious  home,  which  in  every  detail 
betrayed  the  gentle  and  tasteful  hand  of  his  spouse. 
There  was  something  distinctly  humorous  in  his 
peculiar  ways,  which  made  the  visitor  feel  at  home. 
Above  all,  he  was  completely  unaware  of  the  noise 
he  made.  Baumgarten,  who  was  nervous,  and 
worked  with  him  in  the  Archives,  declared  that 
not  only  was  the  throwing  of  books  and  constant 
moving  of  his  chair  unbearable,  but  also  his  un- 
controllable temper.  On  one  occasion,  Treitschke 
took  up  the  register  he  had  been  studying,  and 
jumping  about  the  room  on  one  leg,  shouted, 
"Aegidi,  Aegidi!"  It  appeared  that  in  the  Am- 
bassador's Report  of  the  Prussian  Diet  of  1847 
he  had  found  a  memorial  of  his  friend  Aegidi  stud, 
juris  in  Heidelberg,  which  the  Ambassador  had 
communicated  to  Berlin  with  a  view  to  showing 
the  present  spirit  of  German  students,  and  which 
started  with  the  following  declaration:  "Like  the 


64  Treitschke 

Maid  of  Orleans  before  the  King  of  her  country,  so 
I,  a  German  youth,  come  before  the  noble  Diet 
in  order  to  give  proof  of  the  patriotic  wishes 
agitating  youth."  Similar  humorous  outbursts 
of  his  temperament  occurred,  of  course,  at  home 
as  well.  He  at  times  experienced  difficulties  with 
his  toilette.  The  ladies,  then,  had  to  manipulate 
him  into  a  corner  to  adjust  his  tie  or  collar.  In 
Scheveningen,  where  he  occupied  a  room  next  his 
family,  he  once  rushed  out  on  the  general  balcony 
when  unable  to  manipulate  a  button,  shouting, 
"Help!  help!"  so  that  the  phlegmatic  Dutch 
neighbours  looked  out  of  the  windows,  thinking  a 
great  misfortune  had  happened.  The  importunity 
with  which  some  people  asked  for  autographs,  and 
others  for  copies  of  his  books,  his  photograph,  or  a 
memento  of  some  kind,  provided  his  keen  sense  of 
propriety  with  excellent  material  for  displaying 
originality.  All  this,  however,  was  done  in  such  a 
humorous  fashion  that  his  company  proved  most 
amusing.  He  behaved  towards  his  students  with 
strictness,  although  he  was  gay  enough  when 
addressing  them  from  the  chair.  They  idolized 
him,  but  at  all  times  he  kept  them  at  a  distance. 
When  the  University  filled  again  for  the  winter 
term,  1871-1872,  Treitschke  had  gained  among  the 
students  a  position  second  to  none.  His  lectures 
on  modern  history,  politics,  and  the  Reformation, 
were  crowded,  and  his  descriptive  powers  always 
thrilled  his  audience.  Hausser's  force  had  been 
in  his  irony;  with  Treitschke,  humour  and  pathos 


His  Life  and  Work  65 

alternated  like  thunder  and  lightning.  Even 
listeners  of  more  matured  age  admitted  that  they 
had  never  heard  anything  that  could  be  compared 
with  his  natural  elementary  eloquence.  Unable  to 
hear  the  clock  strike,  he  had  arranged  with  those 
sitting  in  front  to  make  a  sign  at  a  given  hour; 
but,  as  nobody  wished  him  to  discontinue,  he  often 
unduly  prolonged  his  lectures.  Now  and  then 
ladies  turned  up.  At  first  he  informed  them  by 
letter  that  he  could  not  permit  their  presence, 
but  when  they  persisted  in  coming  he  told  the 
porter  to  refuse  them  entrance,  and  angrily  added 
his  intention  of  putting  up  a  notice  similar  to 
those  in  front  of  anatomical  theatres:  "For 
gentlemen  only!"  When  meeting  his  colleagues 
he  never  even  hinted  at  the  striking  success  he 
scored  with  his  audience.  His  disposition  was 
anything  but  over-confident,  and  he  associated 
just  as  cordially  with  those  whose  academic 
failures  were  notorious — provided  he  appreciated 
them  otherwise — as  with  the  past-masters,  whose 
level  was  as  high  as  his  own.  He  never  referred 
at  all  to  the  demonstrations  which  students  made 
in  his  favour.  In  the  choice  of  his  friends,  as  well 
as  in  the  choice  of  his  enemies,  he  was  aristocratic, 
but  vain  he  was  not.  Enthusiastic  patriotism  was 
the  keynote  of  his  life,  and  this  explains  its  aesthet- 
ics. A  sensitive  admirer  of  nature,  appreciating  as 
keenly  as  anybody  the  lovely  scenery  of  the  ruins 
of  Heidelberg  Castle,  he  nevertheless  favoured 
the  re-building  of  the  same,  obsessed  by  the  idea 


66  Treitschke 

that  it  must  become  the  palace  of  the  German 
King.  His  literary  opinions  could  easily  be  gauged 
as  his  compass  always  pointed  towards  Prussia. 
When  he  invited  us  to  an  evening,  we  knew  before- 
hand we  should  read  the  Prince  of  Hamburg,  or 
some  similar  work.  This  explains  also  his  pre- 
dilection for  Kleist,  and  for  Uhland,  the  patriot. 
Of  Hebbel's  works — he  was  about  to  prepare  an 
analysis  of  them  in  a  new  form  for  publication  in 
the  essays — the  Nibelungs  were  his  favourite. 
Did  he  not  himself  bear  resemblance  to  Siegfried, 
who  plans  to  chain  up  the  perfidious  Danish  Kings 
outside  the  gate,  where,  as  they  had  behaved  like 
dogs,  they  were  to  bark  on  his  arrival  and  de- 
parture? This  was  quite  his  style  of  thinking, 
just  as  at  the  Theatre  Francais  my  travelling 
companion,  when  listening  to  the  patriotic  ravings 
of  Ernani,  the  highwayman,  whispered  to  me: 
"Exactly  like  Treitschke!"  Not  only  The  Trou- 
sers of  Herr  von  Bredow,  of  which  he  knew  con- 
siderable parts  by  heart,  but  Brandenburg  poetry 
in  general,  gave  him  great  pleasure.  He  even 
shielded  Hesekiel  and  Scherenberg  against  attacks ; 
and  the  scruples  of  learned  men  respecting  Frey- 
tag's  Ingo  and  Ingraban  were  suppressed  by  him. 
Turbulent  men  were  to  his  liking;  the  criticisms 
of  German  Law  History  and  of  the  Spruner  Atlas 
regarding  these  descriptions  had,  to  his  mind, 
nothing  to  do  with  poetry.  Whatever  met  with 
the  approval  of  his  patriotism  could  be  sure  of  his 
appreciation.  My  first  two  novels  met  with  a  very 


His  Life  and  Work  67 

friendly  reception  in  the  Press,  as,  thanks  to  my 
pseudonym,  "George  Taylor,"  quite  different 
authors  had  been  suspected.  No  sooner,  how- 
ever, had  the  wise  men  from  the  East  discovered 
that  a  theologian  had  been  the  author  than,  on 
the  appearance  of  the  third  novel,  entitled  Jetta, 
they  vented  their  rage  at  having  been  deceived. 
Treitschke,  however  declared  Jetta  to  be  the  best 
of  the  three  books.  He  liked  the  Alemans  for  the 
thrashing  they  had  given  the  Romans,  and  that 
settled  the  matter  as  far  as  he  was  concerned. 
The  way  the  learned  fraternity  censured  Hermann 
Grimm  appeared  stupid  to  him,  like  school  pedan- 
try. He  realized  as  well  as  anybody  else  the  de- 
fects and  mistakes,  but  he  called  it  childish  spite 
to  take  to  task  such  an  ingenious  author  for  all 
sorts  of  blunders  and  amateurish  trivialities  when 
he  had  original  views,  and  had  created  a  picture  of 
culture  such  as  the  life  of  Michelangelo.  In  the 
same  way  he  stood  up  for  living  and  not  for  dead 
writers,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  learned 
fraternity;  but  he  did  not,  however,  defend  their 
superficiality  or  phrase-making. 

The  great  literary  post-bellum  events  were  The 
Old  and  the  New  Faith,  by  Strauss,  and  the  revival 
of  Schopenhauer  pessimism  by  Hartmann  and 
Nietzsche,  books  which — albeit  different  in  form, 
yet  related  in  their  fundamental  views  of  the 
world — appeared  to  Treitschke,  in  view  of  the 
melancholy  tone  adopted,  like  an  inexplicable 
phenomenon.  How  could  anybody  be  a  pessimist 


68  Treitschke 

in  times  like  the  present,  when  it  was  a  pleasure 
to  be  alive?  Of  Hartmann  he  said:  "This  is  the 
philosophy  of  the  Berliner  when  suffering  from 
phthisis."  With  Olympic  roars  of  laughter  he 
derided,  over  a  glass  of  beer,  Hartmann's  senti- 
mentality and  his  many  discussions  whether  the 
feelings  of  pleasure  or  displeasure  predominate 
in  human  nature.  After  all,  Hartmann  had  left 
us  the  consolation  of  Nirvana;  but  Nietzsche,  by 
his  revival  theory,  deprived  us  of  the  consoling 
thought  of  peacefulness  after  death.  Nietzsche's 
first  essay  on  the  origin  of  tragedy  had  met  with 
Treitschke's  approval.  Was  he  not  himself  to 
adopt  the  Nietzschean  phrase  of  "a  dithyrambic 
disposition"?  and,  to  him,  Socratic  natures  were 
likewise  unsympathetic.  In  his  criticism  on 
Strauss  he  gave  proof  of  his  aversion  to  Socratic 
dispositions,  an  aversion  which  he  shared  with 
Nietzsche.  He  was  the  only  one  of  our  circle  who 
defended  Nietzsche's  essay  and  criticized  Strauss's 
Old  and  New  Faith.  He  would  not  admit  the 
merits  of  a  book  which  represents  the  materialistic 
theory  in  transparent  clearness,  and  thereby 
brings  defects  to  light  which  cannot  be  overlooked. 
He  simply  went  by  results.  A  book,  which  as  far 
as  we,  the  enlightened  ones,  were  concerned, 
sought  a  last  consolation  in  music,  had  to  be  some- 
what disagreeable  to  him,  deaf  as  he  was.  But  he 
would  not  even  admit  Strauss's  beauty  of  style. 
"  Beautiful  style  by  itself  does  not  exist, "  he  said. 
"A  style  is  beautiful  when  the  writer  is  represented 


His  Life  and  Work  69 

by  it.  Style  should  faithfully  express  the  nature 
and  temperament  of  the  author.  With  Lessing,  I 
admire  the  clear  statements,  because  they  are 
natural  to  this  clear  dialectician;  but  with  Strauss 
they  do  not  belong  to  the  man,  as  with  Lessing, 
but  to  the  essay. "  Strauss's  style  just  lacked  the 
personal  element.  If  Strauss,  on  the  other  hand, 
found  Treitschke's  style  indigestible,  the  contrast 
is  thereby  quite  correctly  characteristic.  While 
patriotic  pathos  dominated  the  one,  the  other  one 
was,  throughout,  reflective  and  logical;  that  is 
to  say,  the  one  was  a  dithyramb  and  the  other 
one  a  Socratic  nature.  I  could  not  always  share 
Treitschke's  clearly  formed  opinions,  but  we  were 
all  grateful  to  him  for  the  interest  with  which  he 
invested  conversation,  and  for  his  ability  to  main- 
tain it.  His  own  activity  was  that  of  an  artist  as 
well  as  that  of  a  scientist.  Impressions  of  his 
travels  through  all  the  valleys  of  Germany,  poetry, 
newspaper  extracts,  conversations  and  humorous 
stories  of  friends,  were  always  at  his  command,  and 
these,  combined  with  accurate  studies  from  the 
Archives  and  information  verbally  received,  en- 
abled him  to  shape  his  work.  Considering  his 
system  of  gathering  information,  it  was  inevitable 
that  occasionally  he  was  provided  with  unauthen- 
tic  news,  for,  as  soon  as  conversation  arose  on  a 
subject  useful  to  him,  his  pocket-book  appeared, 
and  he  asked  to  have  the  story  put  down.  When 
I  once  wrote  for  him  that,  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
Army  mutiny  in  Karlsruhe,  a  picture  of  Grand 


70  Treitschke 

Duke  Leopold  was  exhibited  in  all  the  libraries, 
with  the  verse: 

Zittert  ein  Tyrann  von  Revolutionen, 
Du  Leopold  kannst  ruhig  thronen. 
Dein  Volk  verlasst  Dich  nicht 

(Though  a  tyrant  may  dread  revolution, 
Thou,  O  Leopold,  mayest  safely  reign. 
Thy  people  will  not  forsake  thee), 

he  immediately  placed  the  piece  of  paper  separately 
and  said,  "This  will  appear  in  the  sixth  volume"; 
but  it  never  saw  the  light  of  day.  I  personally 
could  vouch  for  the  correctness  of  my  story,  but 
how  easy  it  was  to  obtain  wrong  information  under 
these  circumstances,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  all 
sorts  of  protests  against  his  anecdotes  were  raised 
after  each  publication.  It  is  notorious  how  cir- 
cumstantially he  subsequently  had  to  explain  or 
contradict  the  story  of  the  silver  spoon  of  Prince 
Wrede,  the  Red  Order  of  the  Eagle  of  Privy  Coun- 
cillor Schmalz,  and  many  other  things,  and  much 
more  frequently  still  he  promised  correction  in  the 
subsequent  edition  to  those  who  had  lodged  com- 
plaints. We  were  very  much  annoyed  at  the  injus- 
tice with  which  he,  in  the  fifth  volume,  character- 
ized the  Grand  Duke  Leopold,  who  was  exceedingly 
conscientious  and  benevolent.  When  attacking 
him  for  it  in  our  domestic  circle,  he  declared  that 
every  petty  State  had  its  idol,  and  that  we  ought 
to  break  ourselves  of  it  as  others  had  done. 


His  Life  and  Work  71 

Treitschke's  tales  from  the  Reichstag  provided 
a  rich  source  of  amusement.  When  entering 
Parliament,  in  1871,  all  friends  were  of  opinion 
the  deaf  man  would  not  stand  it  long,  and  his 
enemies  mockingly  remarked:  "It  is  right  he 
should  be  there."  But  the  canvassing  tour  in 
itself  proved  a  great  recreation  for  him,  and  if  he 
had  achieved  nothing  beyond  the  strengthening, 
by  his  fiery  speeches,  of  the  German  sentiment  of 
people  on  the  Hunsruck  and  in  the  Nahe  Valley, 
this  gain  alone  was  worth  the  trouble.  His  effi- 
ciency in  Berlin  exceeded  all  expectations.  He 
sat  next  to  the  shorthand  writers,  and  after  having 
grasped  their  system  of  abbreviations,  he  followed 
the  speeches,  and  thus  was  often  better  informed 
than  those  who  sneered  at  the  deaf  deputy.  It 
was  more  difficult  for  him  to  attend  at  Committee 
sittings,  but  his  friend  Wehrenpfennig  kept  him 
informed  as  far  as  possible.  As  all  parties  decided 
in  committee  how  to  vote,  Treitschke's  speeches 
in  plenum  really  were  of  value  for  the  public  only, 
but  the  reputation  of  the  Reichsrath  certainly  was 
considerably  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  people  who 
liked  reading  the  parliamentary  proceedings  were 
able  to  find  the  speeches  reproduced  in  the  news- 
papers. The  orations  of  "the  deaf  man  who  had 
no  business  in  Parliament"  are,  with  the  exception 
of  Bismarck's,  after  all,  the  only  ones  which,  after 
his  death,  have  been  edited  in  book  form  from  the 
protocols,  and  even  to-day  they  are  a  source  of 
political  information  and  patriotic  elevation.  It 


72  Treitschke 

was  a  great  event  when  the  circle  of  friends  in 
Heidelberg  heard  that  Treitschke  had  delivered 
his  maiden  speech  in  the  Reichstag,  and  great  was 
our  joy  when  we  read  that  in  this  first  speech  he 
had  vehemently  attacked  the  Ultramontanes. 

Deputy  Reichensperger  moved  that,  with  a 
view  to  safeguarding  the  liberty  of  the  Press, 
Unions  and  the  Church  Articles  III-Vof  the  Frank- 
fort fundamental  laws  should  be  incorporated 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  Empire.  Treitschke 
started  by  declaring  that  the  nation's  hope  of  a 
temporary  continuance,  at  any  rate  in  Parliament, 
of  the  noble  spirit  of  unanimity  which,  during  the 
war,  had  raised  Germany  above  other  nations, 
had  been  defeated  by  the  Ultramontanes.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  German  Reichstag,  we  have 
heard  the  Empire  of  the  Papal  King,  the  Republic 
of  Poland,  and  the  Empire  of  the  Guelfs  discussed, 
while  I  had  hoped  we  should  now  have  firmly  es- 
tablished progress  in  our  territory,  and  would  look 
hopefully  towards  the  future.  It  is  impossible  to 
believe  that  the  great  question  of  State  and  Church 
could  be  solved  by  a  four-line  sentence.  In  order 
to  bring  about  the  Constitution  every  party  was 
obliged  to  make  sacrifices.  The  disturbers  of  the 
peace  are  now  exactly  those  gentlemen  who  always 
assert  that  they  are  the  oppressed  minority.  Now, 
gentlemen,  if  this  were  true,  I  must  say  that  they 
endured  their  oppression  with  a  very  small 
measure  of  Christian  patience.  If  fundamental 
laws  should  become  incorporated  with  the  New 


His  Life  and  Work  73 

Constitution,  he  continued,  why  have  Mr.  Reichen- 
sperger  and  his  associates  forgotten  the  principal 
ones?  The  article  is  lacking ;  "science  and  its  dog- 
ma are  free,"  a  principle  the  adoption  of  which 
would  be  highly  beneficial  to  the  Catholic  Theo- 
logic  Faculties.  Why  is  the  definition  lacking 
respecting  civil  marriage  law?  In  this  way  he 
ruthlessly  tore  off  the  opponents'  masks,  as  if  they 
had  aimed  at  liberty.  When  Bishop  Kettler  had 
uttered  a  warning  to  speak  a  little  more  modestly, 
and  with  less  confidence  of  the  future  of  an  Empire 
which  had  as  yet  to  be  founded,  Treitschke  ironi- 
cally pointed  to  the  great  progress  made  consider- 
ing that  Kettler  no  longer  sat  in  Parliament  as 
Bishop  of  Mayence,  but  owed  his  seat  to  the 
poll  of  -an  electoral  district.  If  the  movers  of 
the  bill  were  to  point  out  they  demanded  nothing 
beyond  what  the  Prussian  Constitution  had  taken 
over  long  before  from  the  Frankfort  Constitution, 
they  betrayed  thereby  their  intention  to  give  the 
Bishops  in  this  article  the  possibility  of  scoffing 
at  the  laws  of  the  country  by  appealing  to  the  law 
of  the  Empire.  In  Baden  they  had  undergone  too 
many  experiences  in  this  respect  to  be  deceived 
any  longer.  But  the  German  nation  is  sensible  and 
honest  enough  to  understand  that  these  poor 
articles  are  not  fundamental  laws,  but  aim  at 
procuring,  by  a  side-issue,  an  independent  position 
for  the  Catholic  Church  as  regards  the  State.  He 
therefore  thought  he  did  no  injustice  to  the 
movers  of  the  bill  when  he  expressed  the  belief  that 


74  Treitschke 

the  Press  and  Unions  were  only  a  momentary 
addition  to  their  proposal,  but  that  their  real  in- 
tention was  directed  to  the  independence  of  the 
Catholic  Church.  The  defeat  of  the  Ultramon- 
tanes  was  as  complete  as  possible,  and  there  ex- 
isted no  other  more  pressing  matter  for  which 
Treitschke  could  have  acted  as  champion  on  behalf 
of  Baden.  In  parliamentary  matters  he  was  now, 
likewise,  recognized  as  the  worthy  successor  of 
Hausser.  The  general  belief  that  Treitschke  owed 
his  great  success  to  mannerism  was  dispelled  by 
his  speeches  in  the  Reichstag.  It  was  not  rhetoric 
or  pathos  which  scored,  but  the  force  of  conviction. 
He  spoke  better  than  others  because  he  had 
grasped  the  thought  of  liberty,  and  of  nationality, 
with  more  ardour  than  they  had.  To  him  more 
than  to  any  other  speaker  the  words  of  Cato 
senior  applied:  "Keep  firmly  in  mind  the  subject 
and  the  words  will  follow. " 

In  a  further  speech  on  the  law  on  July  9,  1871, 
he  woefully  surrendered  his  ideal  to  see  Alsace 
Lothing  a  province  of  Germany,  but  all  the  more 
energetically  he  opposed  the  desire  of  a  party, 
supported  by  Roggenbach,  to  form  Alsace  into  a 
State.  If  it  was  not  to  become  part  of  the  Prussian 
State  it  should,  at  least,  be  a  province  of  the  Ger- 
man Empire,  reigned  over  by  the  Emperor,  and 
not  become  a  new  Small  State.  The  Alsatian 
public  servants  should  frequently  be  transferred, 
even  to  Schwelm,  and  to  Stalluponen,  so  that  they 
should  get  to  know  Germany.  Neither  was  he  in 


His  Life  and  Work  75 

favour  of  having  a  Lord  Lieutenant  appointed. 
"Such  a  prince  makes  the  worst  public  servant, 
because  he  is  obliged  to  act  as  if  his  house  [were  a 
Court.  The  elements  of  Society  which  could  be 
attracted  by  these  countless  gewgaws  are  such 
that  I,  at  any  rate,  would  with  pleasure  dispense 
with  their  support."  Neither  in  Strasburg  nor 
in  Heidelberg  or  Berlin  did  this  particular  speech 
meet  with  great  approbation,  but  who  will  assert 
to-day  that  he  was  wrong?  All  the  more  ap- 
proved was  his  speech  of  November  2,  1871,  in 
which  he  demanded  the  intervention  of  the  Empire 
to  procure  for  Mecklenburg  the  privileges  of  the 
Estates  of  the  Realm.  A  great  impression  was 
produced  when  he  pointed  out  that,  of  half  a 
million  inhabitants,  no  less  than  60,000  people  had 
emigrated  within  the  last  fifteen  years  from  this 
little  country  richly  blessed  by  nature.  In  his 
indignation  he  ever  adopted  a  tone  which,  hitherto, 
one  was  wont  to  hear  only  at  democratic  meetings. 
He  pointed  out  that  conditions  in  Mecklenburg 
had  become  the  butt  of  humour.  "  It  is  dangerous 
when  the  patient  German  people  begin  to  sneer. 
That  scornful  laughter  over  the  old  German  Diet 
and  the  King  of  the  Guelfs  carried  on  for  many 
years  has  led  to  very  serious  consequences;  it  has 
brought  about  the  well-known  end  of  all  things. 
The  star  of  unity  is  in  the  ascendant.  Woe  betide 
the  State  which  wilfully  secludes  itself  from  this 
mighty  and  irresistible  impulse ;  sooner  or  later  the 
catastrophe  will  overtake  it. "  In  the  same  way  as 


76  Treitschke 

these  threatening  words  had  created  a  great  im- 
pression in  Parliament,  so  they  found  an  enthusi- 
astic echo  in  our  circle;  and  equally  great  was  his 
success  when  he  supported  the  supplementing  of 
the  Penal  Code  by  the  so-called  Pulpit  Paragraph, 
by  which  he  again  told  the  bitter  truth  to  the 
Ultramontanes.  For  the  last  time  before  proroga- 
tion of  Parliament  he  spoke  on  November  29,  1871, 
when  the  progressive  party  renewed  the  old 
controversy  on  parliamentary  co-operation  regard- 
ing Army  Estimates.  Treitschke  was  strongly  in 
favour  of  the  War  Minister's  views;  he  availed 
himself,  however,  of  this  occasion  to  attack 
strongly  von  Muhler,  the  Minister  of  Public  In- 
struction, and  when  called  to  order  by  the  Con- 
servatives he  replied:  "See  that  a  capable  man  is 
appointed  at  the  head  of  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction  who  bestows  only  the  tenth  part  of 
that  energy  which  the  Minister  for  War  is  in  the 
habit  of  bestowing  upon  his  department;  you  will 
then  have  practical  experience  that  one  thing  can 
be  done,  and  that  another  cannot  be  left  undone. " 
On  the  whole,  the  Baden  Deputies  returned  from 
Berlin  in  a  very  dejected  mood.  Of  Bluntschli, 
the  Berlin  newspapers  had  written  that  his  delivery 
gave  the  impression  he  was  dictating  his  speeches. 
He  had  remained  obscure — that  he  knew;  but 
consoled  himself  with  the  thought  that  it  took 
time  to  find  the  tone  for  such  a  big  assembly.  Of 
Roggenbach,  who,  with  all  his  brilliant  conver- 
sational gifts,  completely  lacked  oratorical  powers, 


His  Life  and  Work  77 

a  gay  Palatine  country  judge,  who  was  also  a 
member  of  the  Reichstag,  said:  "If  this  is  your 
most  brilliant  statesman  I  should  like  to  come 
across  your  most  stupid  one."  In  the  same  way 
the  others  returned  like  a  beaten  army,  for  not  the 
remotest  comparison  existed  between  the  part 
played  by  them  in  Berlin  and  the  one  played  by 
them  in  Karlsruhe  at  the  Municipal  Hall.  Only 
one  appeared  with  laurels,  and  this  one  was 
Treitschke,  who  had  saved  our  reputation.  He 
was  also  welcomed  home  as  heartily  as  possible; 
although  Baumgarten  said  at  the  time,  in  a  morose 
tone,  that  Treitschke  never  considered  a  law  pro- 
posal favourably  unless  he  had  delivered  a  speech 
on  it.  The  Ultramontanes,  however,  considered 
the  game  unevenly  matched.  While  he  over- 
whelmed them  with  the  strongest  expressions,  they 
could  not  hit  back  because  he  did  not  hear  them. 
In  an  identical  fashion  the  second  session,  1873- 
1874,  passed,  which  Treitschke  still  attended  from 
Heidelberg,  and  the  "round  table"  applauded  his 
brilliant  passages  of  arms.  Many  of  his  winged 
words  have  survived  to  the  present  day,  as,  for 
instance,  his  explanation  of  the  request  of  German 
issuing  banks  for  paper  (money)  "based  on  a 
deeply  founded  desire  in  human  nature";  or 
"making  debts  without  getting  interest  on  them"; 
or  his  sneering  remarks  about  the  predilection  of 
South  Germans  for  Bavarian  military  helmets  and 
dirty  florin  notes.  His  patriotism  again  rose  to  its 
full  height  when  discussions  on  the  septennate  took 


78  Treitschke 

place,  when  the  same  party,  whose  chaplains  in 
the  Black  Forest  had  falsely  told  the  constituents 
that  "septennate"  meant  serving  for  seven 
successive  years,  complained  in  Parliament  that 
they  were  called  the  enemies  of  the  Empire,  he 
referred  to  their  behaviour,  and  for  simplicity's 
sake  began  with  the  Pope. 

"Who  was  it  who  expressed  the  devout  Chris- 
tian wish  that  a  little  stone  might  fall  from  heaven 
to  shatter  the  feet  of  the  German  Colossus?  Those 
who  consider  the  author  of  this  ingenious  pro- 
nouncement infallible  would  only  have  confessed 
publicly  to  this  wish  after  Germany  had  lost  a 
battle,  and  which  God  forbid.  Meanwhile,  Prussia 
was  the  little  stone  which  had  opened  the  doors 
of  the  Eternal  City  to  united  and  free  Italy,  and  at 
the  same  time  had  annihilated  the  most  sinful 
Small  State  of  that  part  of  the  globe.  In  similar 
strain  he  spoke  on  December  17,  1874,  to  Deputy 
Winterer,  who  demanded  the  abolition  of  the 
School  Law  granted  the  preceding  year  to  Alsace 
Lothing.  In  opposition  to  Winterer's  hymns  on 
the  achievements  of  the  school  brethren  he  read 
extracts  from  their  rules  which  prescribed  in  which 
case  the  brother  has  to  rise  before  the  superior, 
in  which  case  to  kneel  down,  and  in  which  case  he 
only  had  to  kiss  the  floor.  "Gentlemen, "  he  asked 
the  Ultramontanes,  "I  am  indeed  curious  to  know 
whether  there  is  anything  worse  than  the  naked 
floor  the  devout  school  brother  is  to  kiss. "  When 
the  gentlemen  of  the  clerical  party  expressed  the 


His  Life  and  Work  79 

wish  to  save  the  ecclesiastical  and  French  spirit 
of  their  public  schools  he  replied  in  unmistakable 
fashion:  "We  have  the  intention  to  Germanize 
this  newly  acquired  German  province ;  we  have  the 
intention  and  will  carry  it  out. "  Strong  applause, 
and  hissing  in  the  centre,  was  the  usual  result  of  his 
speeches  during  this  session.  The  return  took 
place  under  conditions  similar  to  those  of  last  year, 
only  the  depression  at  the  modest  part  played  by 
the  Baden  Deputies  in  their  Reichstag  was  still 
greater,  and  Jolly,  at  any  rate,  did  not  refrain 
from  remarking  that  the  quarrelsome  disposition 
of  the  Liberal  leaders,  which  immediately  made 
itself  felt  at  the  opening  debate  of  the  Baden 
Chamber  in  November,  1873,  arose  from  the  desire 
of  the  gentlemen  to  gain  in  the  Karlsruhe  Rondel 
Hall  the  laurels  which  had  been  denied  to  them  in 
the  Reichstag.  But  Treitschke's  appreciation  of 
the  Reichstag  likewise  waned  from  session  to 
session.  Already,  in  1879,  ^e  wrote  the  following 
words  in  the  Reichstag  album:  "Let  us  not  be 
deceived,  gentlemen;  the  pleasure  our  population 
experienced  by  participating  in  parliamentary  life 
has  considerably  decreased  in  comparison  with  the 
days  when  the  mere  existence  of  Parliament  was 
held  to  be  the  beginning  of  the  era  of  liberty.  But 
how  should  it  be  otherwise?  I  believe  we  are 
blessed  with  4000  deputies  in  the  German  Empire. 
It  would  be  against  the  nature  of  things  if  such  an 
excessive  number  did  not,  in  the  end,  become 
boring  and  tedious  to  the  population. "  When  his 


8o  Treitschke 

calculation  was  contested,  he  wrote  a  few  years 
later:  "Quousque  tandem  is  on  everybody's  lips 
when  in  good  Society  mention  is  made  of  those 
parliamentary  speech  floods  which  now,  for  months 
past,  have  rushed  forth  again  in  Berlin,  Munich, 
and  Karlsruhe,  as  if  from  wide  opened  sluices; 
3000  Members  of  Parliament,  that  is  to  say,  one 
representative  of  the  people  for  every  3000  citizens. 
Too  much  of  a  good  thing  even  for  German 
patience.  More  and  more  frequently  the  question 
is  raised  whether  by  such  sinful  waste  of  money 
and  time  anything  else  can  be  effected  beyond  a 
noise  as  useless  as  the  clattering  of  a  wheel  whose 
axle  is  broken. " 

On  July  n,  1879,  he  announced  his  retirement 
from  the  National  Liberal  faction  on  the  rejection 
of  the  well-known  Frankenstein  Clause,  which 
allotted  part  of  the  customs  receipts  to  the  Small 
States.  One  would  have  supposed  that  he,  a 
staunch  Unitarian,  would  be  antagonistic  to  this 
proposal,  and  in  his  innermost  heart  he  really  was; 
but,  owing  to  Bismarck's  declaration  that  finance 
reform  was  urgent,  and  that  the  consent  of  the 
centre  was  unobtainable  by  any  other  means,  he 
voted  for  the  Government.  The  consequences 
apprehended  by  him,  as  the  result  of  the  attitude 
of  his  friends,  fully  materialized.  They  consisted 
in  Bismarck's  rupture  with  the  National  Liberals, 
the  resignation  of  ministers — Hobrecht,  Falck, 
and  Friedenthal — the  reconciliation  of  Bismarck 
with  the  Roman  Curia,  and  the  passage  of  the 


His  Life  and  Work  81 

customs  reform  with  a  Conservative  clerical 
majority,  which  to  the  present  day  prevails  in  the 
Reichstag.  All  this  Bismarck  sacrificed  for  the 
benefit  of  a  highly  contestable  finance  reform. 
Treitschke  attributed  the  responsibility  for  it  to 
the  Reichstag,  and  in  1883  he  wrote:  "Of  all  the 
institutions  of  our  young  Empire,  none  has  stood 
the  test  as  badly  as  the  Reichstag. "  He  was  sick 
of  Parliament,  and  characterized  the  headache  and 
feeling  of  tiredness  with  which  he  usually  returned 
from  sittings  as  "parliamentary  seediness. "  His 
participation  in  debates  slackened,  and  after  1888 
he  refrained  from  seeking  re-election,  an  additional 
reason  being  the  lines  taken  by  Government,  and 
legislation  which  he  could  not  follow  without 
coming  too  much  into  conflict  with  his  old  ideas. 

Neither  did  he  harmonize  with  public  opinion  in 
regard  to  external  politics.  He  had  no  faith  in  the 
durability  of  the  French  Republic,  but  believed 
in  the  return  of  Bonapartism.  At  the  death  of 
Napoleon  III,  on  January  9,  1873,  consequent 
upon  an  operation  for  stone,  he  remarked:  "Right 
to  the  last  this  man  has  remained  unaesthetic. " 
I  thought  the  game  between  Chambord  and  the 
Orleans  would  now  be  continued,  but  he  pooh- 
poohed  the  idea,  and  adhered  to  his  belief  that  the 
Bonapartists  alone  are  the  people  destined  to 
reign  over  that  nation.  With  feelings  of  bitterness 
he  watched  the  great  number  of  Germans  who,  in 
spite  of  experiences  in  the  past,  returned  to  France 
to  again  take  up  positions,  and  even  obtain  their 

6 


82  Treitschke 

naturalization.  He  considered  this  a  lack  of  sense 
of  honour  which  he  could  not  understand.  The 
Pole  who  on  all  battlefields  fought  against  Russia 
was  to  his  mind  more  respectable,  in  spite  of  his 
vodka  smell. 


VI. 


Prom  1871  to  1874  tne  Reichstag  was  by  no 
means  the  only  arena  in  which  the  warrior,  pre- 
pared at  all  times,  practised  his  strength,  and  his 
academic  opponents  occasionally  reproached  him 
with  dragging  the  bad  tone  of  the  Reichstag  into 
the  University  debates.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in 
those  days  there  was  little  difference,  thanks  to  the 
urbanity  of  Richter  and  Liebnecht.  Peculiarly 
enough,  the  chief  interest  of  Academicians  since 
March,  1871 — during  the  time,  therefore,  when  the 
most  important  questions  agitated  the  German 
Fatherland — hinged  upon  a  quarrel  which  must  be 
styled  almost  childish.  Knies  and  Schenkel  were 
at  daggers  drawn,  because  the  former,  as  Pro- 
Rector,  occupied  the  chair  in  the  Economic  Com- 
mission conducted  by  Schenkel.  The  University 
statutes  clearly  conceded  this  right  to  the  Pro- 
Rector,  but  Schenkel  declared  that  Knies,  in  that 
case,  might  also  undertake  the  agenda  of  the 
Commission.  The  reason  for  Treitschke's  pas- 
sionate participation  in  this  question  was  partly 
aversion  for  Schenkel,  and  partly  gratitude  for 
Knies,  who,  in  Freiburg,  as  well  as  in  Heidelberg, 


His  Life  and  Work  83 

had  urged  his  appointment.  Besides,  he  highly 
appreciated  Knies  as  a  scientist,  and  managed  to 
intersperse  his  Reichstag  speeches  with  exhaustive 
extracts  from  Knies's  latest  book,  Money.  In  the 
terms  of  the  statute  Knies  was  absolutely  in  his 
right.  When  the  quarrel  came  to  no  end,  Jolly 
suspended  the  Commission  and  entrusted  the 
Senate  with  its  duties,  but  the  Senate  protested. 
As  negotiations  assumed  a  very  unparliamentary 
character,  the  philologist  Kochly  declared  it 
beneath  his  dignity  to  participate  further  in  the 
meetings.  A  motion  was  now  brought  in  com- 
pelling every  "Ordinarius"  to  take  part  in  the 
meetings,  and  in  this  way  the  stupid  discussion 
continued.  The  principal  seat  of  terror  was  the 
Philosophic  Faculty,  and  by  his  drastic  speeches 
Treitschke  more  than  once  drove  the  Dean  to 
despair.  "He  is  a  firebrand,"  said  Ribbeck.  "I 
am  always  trembling  when  he  asks  to  speak." 
It  was,  of  course,  picturesque  when  the  tall,  hand- 
some man  with  thundering  voice  shouted  at  the 
tiny,  bespectacled  gentlemen  in  the  Senate,  "Who- 
ever is  of  a  different  opinion  will  have  me  to  deal 
with."  But  as  he  had  no  conception  as  to  how 
loudly  he  spoke,  even  when  intending  to  whisper  a 
confidential  information  into  his  neighbour's  ear, 
he  often  placed  his  friends  in  a  most  awkward 
position.  One  of  his  confidential  cannon-shots 
particularly  caused  lasting  damage.  When  the 
natural  history  scientists,  on  a  certain  occasion, 
interfered,  he  shouted  to  his  neighbour,  meaning 


84  Treitschke 

of  course  to  whisper,  "What  has  this  to  do  with 
these  chemists  and  dung-drivers?" — and  the  fat 
was  naturally  in  the  fire.  Nobody  was  more 
annoyed  at  these  sallies  than  his  own  party,  and, 
after  a  similar  occurrence,  Knies,  taking  advantage 
of  his  deafness,  called  after  him,  "Good-night,  old 
baby!"  He,  however,  gaily  departed,  totally 
unaware  of  the  feelings  which  he  had  aroused  even 
amongst  his  friends.  It  was  impossible  to  exercise 
a  restraining  influence  over  him.  With  his  tem- 
perament, he  could  not  understand  why  he  should 
say  something  different  from  what  he  thought.  A 
friend  who,  in  his  opinion,  although  right,  was 
unjustly  ill-treated  and  ill-used,  would  be  helped 
out  by  him,  whatever  the  cost. 

When,  however,  in  an  article  in  the  Prussian 
Annuals,  he  declared  that  Court  Theatres  and 
University  Senates  would  remain  for  ever  the 
classic  field  for  jealous  intrigues  and  childish 
quarrels,  the  contest  reverberated  in  the  Chambers 
and  the  Press.  The  so-called  majority  broke  off 
all  relations  with  him,  and,  in  consequence,  we 
became  more  intimate  than  ever.  "The  outlaws" 
was  the  name  he  preferably  applied  to  us,  and  the 
round  table  at  Konig's  Weinbeer,  in  Leipzig,  was 
christened  by  him  as  "The  Conspirators."  In 
reply  to  my  remark  that  we  cared  by  no  means  to 
be  considered  outlaws,  he  said:  "I  have  my 
students."  Anyhow,  the  close  relations  thus 
established  among  a  number  of  influential  col- 
leagues was  also  a  gain.  We  met  every  evening, 


His  Life  and  Work  85 

one  hour  after  his  lectures,  at  the  Museum,  where 
we  drank  cheap  beer.  "It  merely  costs  a  little 
effort, "  he  said.  The  circle  consisted  of  historian 
Weber,  the  three  theologians,  Gass,  Holtzmann, 
and  myself;  further,  the  botanist,  Hofmeister, 
with  whom  Treitschke  was  on  friendly  terms  while 
in  Leipzig;  Herrmann,  the  teacher  of  Canon  Law, 
where  Treitschke  was  received  when  still  a  student 
in  Gottingen,  and  who,  for  his  benefit,  had  learned 
the  deaf-and-dumb  language;  and  Knies,  who,  after 
occupying  the  position  of  Director  of  the  High 
School  Board  and  University  Inspector,  was 
degraded  to  that  of  Professor  at  Heidelberg,  so  that 
Hitzig  greeted  him  with  the  following  toast: 
"Behold  Adam,  who  now  has  become  one  of  us!" 
The  spokesmen  were  Knies  and  Bluntschli,  who 
both  defended  their  one  political  point  of  view, 
Treitschke  keeping  as  much  as  possible  apart  from 
the  latter.  His  opinion  of  Bluntschli,  as  now  con- 
firmed in  print  through  his  letters  to  Freytag,  was 
unjust.  Bluntschli's  intentions  were  for  the  com- 
mon weal,  but  in  his  opinion  it  could  best  be  done 
through  him.  The  Otez  vous  gue  je  mif  mette  (real 
Swiss-German)  applied  to  him  in  his  Faculty  as 
well  as  in  the  Chamber.  In  vain  I  tried  to  prove 
to  Treitschke  that  Bluntschli's  propensity  to 
mediation  proposals,  and  his  desire  to  vote  always 
with  the  majority,  were  founded  on  his  peaceable 
disposition  and  his  benevolent  concern  for  the 
public  good.  When,  however,  on  a  certain  occa- 
sion, prior  to  leaving  for  Edingen  by  rail,  I  spoke 


86  Treitschke 

to  him  in  this  strain,  he  raved  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  attention  of  the  people  in  the  waiting- 
room  was  aroused,  and  I  preferred  to  discontinue 
the  argument.  On  such  occasions,  the  misfortune 
of  his  deafness  became  very  marked,  for  how  was 
it  possible  to  make  complicated  circumstances 
clear  to  him  by  lip-movements  and  scribbling  on 
block  slips?  For  good  reasons  he  disliked  letters 
by  post.  Although  he  belonged  at  that  time, 
academically,  to  the  Bluntschli  party,  he  attacked, 
in  his  essay  of  1871,  on  Parties  and  Factions,  the 
Bluntschli-Rohmer  State  Law,  establishing  a 
parallel  between  the  State  functions  and  the  human 
organism.  "State  science  demands  thought,  not 
comparisons,"  he  wrote.  "What  is  the  use  of 
speaking  figuratively,  which  is  just  as  arbitrary 
as  the  old  bad  habit  so  favoured  by  natural  philo- 
sophers of  comparing  the  State  with  the  human 
body?  Argument  ceases  with  such  fantastic 
parables.  Analogies  are  easily  found,  and  with 
beautiful  words  one  might  describe  the  King  as 
the  head  or  the  heart,  or  also  as  the  index,  of  a 
State."  This  was  not  polite  language,  and  must 
have  annoyed  Bluntschli,  all  the  more  as  Treitsch- 
ke, in  the  language  of  Goethe,  "only  tugged  at 
the  discarded  serpent's  skin,"  Bluntschli  himself 
having  left  that  part  of  the  Rohmer  philosophy 
behind  him;  and  that  is  why,  as  far  as  I  know, 
he  never  replied  to  the  attack.  Treitschke  also 
reproached  Bluntschli  with  attempting  to  count 
Luther  amongst  the  Liberals:  "He,  whose  emi- 


His  Life  and  Work  87 

nent  mind  admirably  combines  the  traits  of  the 
revolutionary  stormer  of  heaven  with  those  of  the 
devout  monk,  he  who  was  anything  but  a  Liberal ! 
Or  will  our  opponents  think  more  of  us  if  we  are  so 
bold  as  to  declare  that  the  true  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity is  liberal?  The  greatness  of  Christian  faith 
lies  in  its  inconceivable  and  manifold  plasticity; 
after  thousands  of  years  it  will,  in  eternally  new, 
yet  ever  identical,  forms,  elevate  humanity  when 
not  even  scientists  will  have  anything  to  say  of 
Liberalism."  Although  sitting  at  the  same  round 
table  there  was,  speaking  philosophically,  a  cen- 
tury between  Bluntschli  and  Treitschke.  Treitsch- 
ke  was  a  true  representative  of  the  historical 
school,  and  not  Dahlmann;  but  Ranke  was  his 
real  master.  Bluntschli  liked  to  refer  to  Savigny; 
but,  in  reality,  his  views  of  the  world,  in  spite  of 
Rohmer's  symbolism,  were  culled  from  the  age  of 
enlightenment. 

When,  in  1873,  Wehrenpfennig  remodelled  the 
Spenersche  Zeitung  into  the  semi-official  Preussische 
Zeitung,  Treitschke  was  offered  the  salary  of  ten 
thousand  thalers  for  undertaking  the  editorship  of 
the  journal.  This  salary  was  unheard  of  at  that 
time.  Some  friends  of  his  advised  him  to  accept, 
saying  that  his  deafness  would,  in  years  to  come, 
impair  his  functions  as  teacher,  but  he  told  me :  "  I 
am  not  a  journalist ;  I  like  to  see  things  developed 
so  that  I  can  form  an  opinion.  To  write  a  leading 
article  on  the  latest  telegram,  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment,  and  to  have  to  contradict  it  eight  days 


88  Treitschke 

later,  I  leave  to  other  people."  Wehrenpfennig 
tried  to  make  the  proposal  more  acceptable  by 
informing  him  that  the  minister  would  appoint 
him  as  professor  at  a  fixed  salary,  consequently 
there  would  be  no  need  to  sacrifice  his  function  as 
teacher,  whilst  others  would  look  after  the  ordin- 
ary journalistic  work;  only  the  handling  of  political 
matters  and  the  daily  leading  article  would  be  his 
department.  A  big  salary  as  professor,  and  a  big 
income  as  editor,  would  have  tempted  a  good 
many ;  there  even  were  people  who  declared  that  it 
was  Treitschke's  duty,  impecunious  as  he  was,  to 
provide  thus  for  his  family;  but  he  maintained 
that  it  was  contrary  to  his  honour  to  change  his 
profession  for  monetary  gain,  and  we  were,  natur- 
ally, glad  that  he  remained  in  our  midst. 

In  spite  of  his  refusal  to  take  part  in  journalism 
he  played  a  prominent  part  in  contemporary 
politics,  and  the  journals  repaid  him  with  interest 
for  his  bold  observations  in  the  Prussian  Annuals. 
Ludwig  Ekkard,  an  Austrian,  resident  since  1866 
at  Mannheim,  and  editor  there  of  a  weekly  publica- 
tion— a  man  of  whom  the  Karlsruhe  people 
whispered  he  had,  in  1848,  in  Vienna,  hung  Latour, 
the  Minister  of  War — wrote  a  leading  article  on 
"Treitschke  von  Cassagnac."  After  he  had 
fallen  out  with  the  Jews,  a  Berlin  paper  reported 
that  Treitschke  was  the  descendant  of  a  certain 
Isaac  Treitschel,  who,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century,  had  come  as  a  youth  from  Bohemia  to 
Saxony  selling  trousers.  A  social  democratic 


His  Life  and  Work  89 

journal  thought  Heir  von  Treitschke  was  a  living 
proof  of  the  injustice  of  present-day  Society  in- 
stitutions, as  he  was  only  appointed  professor 
because  his  father  had  been  a  general.  "If  we 
lived  in  a  State  which  practises  justice,  such  a 
weak-headed  creature  would  never  have  been 
allowed  to  be  a  student."  Similar  flattering 
expressions  were  showered  upon  him  by  the  Ultra- 
montane journals,  which,  on  account  of  his  mono- 
mania, would  have  liked  to  have  him  bundled  off 
to  a  lunatic  asylum.  When  shown  such  a  master- 
piece, he  laughed  heartily  saying:  "One  has  to  put 
up  with  that  sort  of  thing  when  one  is  in  the  public 
eye. "  He  was  only  angered  at  the  small-minded- 
ness of  some  of  his  colleagues,  who  threw  stones 
at  him  behind  his  back  merely  because  he  had 
stolen  a  march  on  them. 

It  is  notorious  that  Treitschke,  after  lacking 
sympathy  with  Badenese  Liberalism,  became  its 
supporter  whilst  in  Heidelberg;  but  in  Berlin  he 
again  reverted  to  feelings  of  contempt  for  it. 

During  the  years  1867  to  1874,  which  he  spent 
amongst  us,  I  could  not  discern  an  appreciable 
difference  in  his  views.  As  his  parliamentary 
speeches  and  essays  in  the  Annuals  amply  testify, 
he  greeted  with  joy  Bismarck's  first  steps  towards 
the  re-establishment  of  the  Authority  of  the  State 
versus  the  Catholic  Church;  the  abolition  of  the 
Catholic  department  in  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction;  the  penal  code  against  abuse  of  the 
pulpit,  and  Bismarck's  refusal  to  give  way  to  the 


90  Treitschke 

new-founded  centre.  We  also  thoroughly  agreed  in 
regard  to  the  Muhler  administration  of  ecclesi- 
astical affairs.  He  wrote:  "The  Universities  in 
Prussia  are  going  backwards,  since  fashionable 
orthodoxy,  with  its  mistrust,  is  supreme  at  Court 
against  liberty  of  thought.  Here,  if  anywhere,  our 
State  is  in  need  of  a  radical  reform,  i.  e.,  the  con- 
version of  the  conversion  of  science."  In  the  last 
essay  written  in  Heidelberg  he  said:  "Since  the 
unhappy  days  of  Friederick  Wilhelm  IV  the  school 
system  in  Prussia  has  been  fundamentally  mis- 
cultivated  by  a  spirit  of  confessional  narrow- 
mindedness  which  exasperates  the  most  patient." 
Consequently  nothing  astonished  us  more  than 
the  attitude  which  he  adopted  subsequently  in 
Berlin,  towards  Stocker  and  his  town  mission,  even 
going  so  far  as  to  lament  Stocker's  dismissal  from 
his  position  as  preacher  at  the  Royal  Chapel. 
Those  who  contend  that  the  misunderstanding  had 
been  on  our  side,  are  invited  to  read  Treitschke's 
publications  up  to  the  last  week  of  his  stay  at 
Heidelberg.  The  views  with  which  he  came  to  us, 
and  which  he  defended  in  Heidelberg  in  the  circle 
of  friends  as  well  as  in  the  chair,  find  expression  in 
the  beautiful  essay  on  Liberty,  the  opening  sentence 
of  which  runs  as  follows :  "Everything  new  created 
by  the  nineteenth  century  is  the  work  of  liberalism. 
Particularly  in  the  clerical  sphere,  this  is  destined 
to  continue  its  labours  in  order  to  create  at  last 
true  conditions.  Does  it  redound  to  the  honour  of 
the  land  of  Lessing, "  he  asks,  "that  there  is  no 


His  Life  and  Work  91 

German  University  which  possesses  sufficient 
courage  to  admit  a  David  Strauss  to  its  halls? 
Those  who  have  any  conception  of  the  enormous 
extent  to  which  faith  in  the  dogmas  of  Christian 
revelations  has  disappeared  among  the  younger 
generation,  must  observe  with  great  anxiety  how 
thoughtlessly,  how  lazily,  nay,  how  lyingly, 
thousands  do  homage  to  a  lip  service  which  has 
become  strange  to  their  heart.  The  lack  of  vera- 
city in  the  field  of  religion  grows  in  an  alarming 
fashion.  The  philosophers  of  the  eighteenth 
century  thought  that  real  virtue  does  not  exist 
without  belief  in  God  and  immortality.  The 
present  generation  contests  this,  and  declares 
point-blank,  'Morality  is  independent  of  dogma.'" 
He  recognizes  the  immortality  in  the  never-ending 
effect  of  our  good  as  well  as  of  our  bad  deeds. 
"For  weak  or  low  characters,  the  belief  in  an  after 
life  can  equally  be  a  source  of  immortality,  like  the 
denial  of  same,  for  in  their  anxiety  for  the  hereafter 
they  often  neglect  their  duties  on  earth.  The 
Church  has  taken  no  interest  whatever  in  the 
great  work  of  the  last  centuries,  and  in  the  deliver- 
ance of  humanity  from  one  thousand  terrors  of 
unchristian  arbitrariness.  The  defenders  of  the 
Church  claim  the  prerogative  to  spoil  even  the 
best  measure  by  the  incomparable  meanness  of 
their  methods.  And,  according  to  human  estimate, 
this  symptom  will  continue.  More  and  more  the 
moral  value  of  Christianity  will  be  investigated 
and  developed  by  laymen,  and  more  and  more  it 


92  Treitschke 

will  become  apparent  that  churches  do  not  suffice 
for  the  spiritual  demands  of  matured  people." 
That  this  last  sentence  coincides  with  the  specula- 
tions of  Richard  Rothe,  the  aesthetic  scientist,  and 
the  teaching  of  the  Tubingen  School  is  apparent 
from  a  letter  to  his  Catholic  fiancee,  written  in 
1866,  in  which  he  says,  "Christianity  loses  nothing 
of  its  greatness  if  the  stupid  priest  tales  of  Pagan- 
ism are  dropped." 

"The  New  Testament  embodies  more  ideas  of 
Plato  than  our  clergy  is  ready  to  admit. "  Under 
these  circumstances  we  could  count  him  merely 
from  a  theological  point  of  view  amongst  the 
Liberals,  and  only  in  the  attitude  adopted  by 
Treitschke  towards  the  contested  reforms  of 
Evangelical  and  Catholic  Church  matters  we 
regained  our  own  convictions.  He  likewise  greeted 
Muhler's  fall  in  February,  1872,  with  joy,  al- 
though he  disapproved  of  the  American  Press 
tactics,  now  gaining  more  and  more  the  upper 
hand  in  the  German  Press,  which  heaped  with 
opprobrium  the  fallen  opponent — "he  hardly 
deserved  the  title  of  lion."  Treitschke  likewise 
demanded  the  abolition  of  the  Stiehl  regulations, 
as  they  acted  as  a  deterrent  to  many  an  intelligent 
person  embracing  the  career  of  teacher.  Where 
Herr  von  Muhler  had  ordered  that  certain  colleges 
should  assume  a  strictly  evangelical  character,  he 
urged  Falk  to  appoint  Catholic  or  Jewish  teachers 
for  those  schools,  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the 
fictitious  story  that  Prussia  possessed  colleges  for 


His  Life  and  Work  93 

specific  confessions.  During  his  last  term  at 
Heidelberg  he,  in  a  short  and  decisive  fashion,  on 
December  10,  1873,  still  approved  of  the  Falk 
legislation  enacted  in  May,  respecting  the  re- 
strictions of  the  Catholic  Church.  "Not  a  word  is 
to  be  found  in  these  laws  which  is  not  beneficial 
to  the  Church."  He  declares  it  the  most  un- 
pardonable error  of  the  Conservative  party  in 
Prussia  to  have  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the 
Ultramontanes.  The  suppression  of  the  Jesuit 
Order,  which  he  formerly  opposed,  now  had  his 
approval.  The  struggle  for  civilization  was  like- 
wise, for  him,  a  struggle  of  liberty  against  fanati- 
cism, and  he  was  convinced  that  a  firm  attitude 
maintained  by  the  State  would  lead  to  victory. 

"For  two  years  the  Ultramontanes  have  wasted 
their  powder;  they  have  so  often  conjured  up  the 
names  of  Nero  and  Diocletianus  that  one  fails  to 
see  what  can  still  be  done  after  this  fanatical  clam- 
our, beyond  a  street  battle,  and  this  they  cannot 
risk."  Treitschke's  practical  demands  were  like- 
wise those  of  the  Liberals.  "A  law  for  compulsory 
civil  marriage  has  become  a  necessity;  after  years 
of  deliberation,  it  must  at  last  be  evident  that 
facultative  civil  marriage  is  based  on  a  miscon- 
ception, and  does  not  mitigate,  but  rather  accen- 
tuates, the  conflict  between  State  and  Church. 
Furthermore,  a  special  law  will  have  to  be  enacted 
by  the  State  enabling  the  communities  themselves 
to  look  after  the  Church  Funds,  should  no  legally 
recognized  parson  be  available ;  the  State  will  have 


94  Treitschke 

to  concede  to  Old  Catholics  the  right  to  reclaim 
their  share  of  the  Church  property  when  quitting 
the  church.  After  all  that  has  happened,  there  is 
no  need  to  shun  the  reproach  of  animosity;  we 
require  a  law  empowering  the  arrest  of  persistently 
refractory  priests.  It  will  not  do  to  leave  religious 
orders  in  their  present  condition,  so  uncertain  from 
a  legal  point  of  view,  and  to  allow  processions  and 
pilgrimages  to  be  exposed  to  molestation  and  insult 
on  the  part  of  citizens  of  different  creeds.  The 
May  laws  are  only  the  beginning  of  an  energetic 
Church  policy."  The  Baden  Liberalism  has 
never  transgressed  these  demands,  and  it  may 
safely  be  said  that  Treitschke,  while  in  Heidelberg, 
shared  in  this  respect  fully  the  views  of  his  Liberal 
friends. 

Slowly  the  change  came  about  while  living  in 
Berlin.  Owing  to  his  affliction,  social  intercourse 
was  restricted  to  a  few  people,  and  amongst  those 
it  was  the  new  President  of  the  Supreme  Ecclesi- 
astic Council,  Herrmann  by  name,  with  whom  he 
formed  a  close  friendship — Herrmann  having  been 
able,  better  than  anybody,  to  make  himself  under- 
stood by  deaf-and-dumb  language,  and  also  corre- 
sponding with  Treitschke.  In  Heidelberg,  before, 
Herrmann  had  raised  all  sorts  of  objections  to  the 
Falk  Laws,  and  heated  discussions  took  place 
between  him  and  the  Minister  of  Ecclesiastical 
Affairs  on  the  endowment  of  evangelical  clergymen, 
the  abolition  of  incidental  fees,  and  similar  ques- 
tions. His  opinions  on  the  Falk  Church  Laws  were 


His  Life  and  Work  95 

now  so  unfavourable  that  we  often  had  the  impres- 
sion that  he  considered  himself  destined  to  replace 
Falk.  In  unctuous  fashion  he  invariably  reverted 
to  the  statement  that  as  long  as  the  population 
fail  to  realize  that  ecclesiastical  decrees  speak  the 
language  of  profound  respect  for  religion,  every 
reform  will  prove  abortive  on  account  of  the 
people's  want  of  confidence.  The  aristocratic  and 
military  circles,  with  whom  Treitschke  now  asso- 
ciated more  frequently,  too,  had  only  one  watch- 
word: The  struggle  for  civilization  must  cease. 
He  expected  nothing  of  the  Old  Catholic  agitation, 
and  disapproved  of  the  loud  applause  of  the  Jewish 
Press,  which  would  have  better  served  the  cause 
by  greater  reticence.  It  so  came  about  that  we 
had  gradually  to  rely  less  upon  his  co-operation 
in  the  struggle.  But  we  gathered  this  opinion 
more  from  his  verbal  scruples  than  from  his  written 
expressions,  which  in  principle  were  in  agreement 
with  ours,  although  he  now  considered  the  legisla- 
tion as  laws  of  necessity,  i.  e.,  as  a  temporary  evil. 
Then  took  place  the  great  defection  of  Lasker  and 
the  Progressive  Party,  which  the  Catholic  faction 
attempted  to  engineer  for  the  elections,  and  which 
willingly  left  the  odium  of  civilization — a  name 
invented  by  Virchow  for  the  glory  of  Falk — to  the 
National  Liberals.  After  one  wing  of  the  Army 
had  gone  over  to  the  enemy,  the  great  Bismarck 
retreat  commenced,  which  Treitschke  had  to 
cover  with  heavy  artillery.  Even  in  course  of 
these  rear-guard  actions,  he  had  both  written  and 


96  Treitschke 

spoken  many  clever  things  in  the  Annuals,  as  well 
as  in  the  Reichstag,  but  it  oppressed  his  mind  that 
henceforth  he  would  have  to  recommend  the 
abolition  of  the  "ineffective  or  mistaken  May 
Laws,"  after  having  greeted  their  formation  with 
words  of  joy.  To  retract  words,  suited  him,  who 
was  used  to  employing  such  strong  language 
particularly  badly.  Times  out  of  number  he  had 
proclaimed  that  the  old  feud  could  not  be  adjusted 
by  concessions,  but  by  perseverance.  If,  in  a 
country  whose  population  to  the  extent  of  two- 
thirds  are  Protestants,  the  Bishops  reign  to-day, 
and  an  Ultramontane  President  is  President  of  the 
Reichstag,  the  old  saying  characterizing  this  state 
of  affairs,  viz.,  "Every  nation  has  the  government 
it  deserves,"  is  decidedly  appropriate.  For  the 
rest,  it  must  be  recognized  that  Treitschke  never 
expressed  his  pleasure  at  this  result  as  did  the 
Kreuz  Zeitung,  but  always  contemplated  it  with 
deep  regret  as  a  proof  that,  contrary  to  the  opinion 
of  Aristotle,  the  German  being  is  by  no  means  a 
political  animal. 

While  still  in  Heidelberg,  Treitschke's  rupture 
with  the  University  Socialists  became  imminent, 
among  whom  he  counted  his  intimate  friends 
Knies  and  Schmoller.  Contrary  to  Knies,  he 
asserted  that  Socialism  could  not  be  convinced  by 
reason,  but  had  to  be  suppressed  by  forcible  laws. 
He  also  defended  the  view  that  it  is  in  the  interest 
of  the  public  to  compel  labour  to  work  cheaply, 
and  that  the  State  should  possess  authority  to 


His  Life  and  Work  97 

enforce  the  fulfilment  of  this  duty.  In  his  first 
Berlin  article,  of  July,  1874,  he  took  this  sharp 
attitude  against  the  Social  Democrats,  whom  he 
called  Socialists,  and  whom  he  did  not  wish  to 
distinguish  from  the  Radical  Socialist  politicians. 
The  article  had  been  begun  in  Heidelberg,  and  we 
were  diverted  to  see  how  here  again  he  gave  expres- 
sion to  his  most  recent  experience,  when  he  wrote: 
"After  packing  books  for  two  or  three  days,  and 
filling  up  freight  forms — finally  looking  stupidly 
at  the  completed  work — the  question  will  suddenly 
occur  what  the  brave  packers  might  think,  who, 
during  these  removal  performances  only,  were  my 
servants?  The  calling  of  the  furniture  shifter  is, 
after  all,  a  very  respectable  one,  because  it  is 
cleaner,  and  more  refined,  than  many  equally 
necessary  occupations."  The  essay  itself,  Social- 
ism, and  its  Supporters,  met  at  the  round  table 
of  the  Museum  with  no  more  approval  than  the 
speeches  which  were  its  prelude  prior  to  his 
departure.  Knies  thought  that  the  inability  to 
distribute  wealth  in  accordance  with  actual  deeds 
• — it  not  being  a  creation  of  the  present — and  the 
fact  that  virtue  is  not  fully  rewarded  in  this  world, 
would  not  produce  a  greater  feeling  of  contentment 
amongst  the  working  classes,  who  demand  their 
share  of  the  realized  profit,  and  in  the  terms  of  their 
favourite  author,  Heine,  leave  Heaven  to  the 
angels  and  sparrows. 

Colleagues  otherwise  friendly  disposed  towards 
him  found  the  point  of  view  that  the  working 


98  Treitschke 

classes  should  continue  to  toil  for  the  sake  of 
religion,  and  his  cruel  reference  to  that  true  friend 
of  the  people,  Fritz  Reuter,  particularly  hard- 
hearted when  a  question  of  hungry  people  who 
have  no  time  to  read  novels  was  being  discussed. 
Treitschke's  assertion  that  the  introduction  of 
slavery  had  been  a  redeeming  achievement  of 
culture,  which,  during  thousands  of  years  had 
exercised  at  least  as  powerful  a  moral  influence  as 
Christianity  during  a  later  epoch,  appeared  to  us 
a  comparison  of  things  which  could  not  be  tolerated ; 
and  if  nature  formed  all  its  higher  beings  unequally 
there  can  be  no  question  of  the  introduction  of 
slavery  as  a  redeeming  historical  achievement. 
From  a  prehistoric  point  of  view,  it  can  be  com- 
pared with  the  relationship  existing  between 
master  and  dog,  or  the  shepherd  and  his  flock. 
An  innovation  of  his  was  the  stronger  touch  of 
religious  chords  which,  with  this  essay,  begins  to 
obliterate  the  formerly  habitual  attacks  upon  the 
wicked  class  of  theologians.  The  full  meaning  of 
Social  Democracy  became  clear  to  him  with  the 
classic  expression  of  the  Volk  Staat:  "Either  there 
is  a  God,  and  then  we  admit  we  are  in  a  mess,  or 
there  is  none,  in  which  case  we  can  alter  the  existing 
state  of  affairs  as  much  as  we  like."  It  was  only 
right  that  against  such  speeches  he  should  have 
emphasized  more  strongly  his  positively  religious 
sentiments,  but  now  and  then  his  old  habit  of 
chaffing  the  theologians  came  to  the  fore.  Whilst 
Schmoller  traces  the  economic  formation  of  classes 


His  Life  and  Work  99 

to  an  original  injustice,  viz.,  violence  of  the 
stronger,  which  as  a  tragic  fault  is  hereditary, 
Treitschke  sneers  at  the  doctrine  of  "social  apple 
tasting,"  and  the  sin  which  is  no  more  ingenious 
than  the  theological  doctrine  of  hereditary  sin. 
But  the  doctrine  of  hereditary  sin  is  the  preamble 
to  Christianity,  and  to  be  one  of  its  champions  in 
Berlin  was  his  aim. 

It  was  quite  natural  that  Schmoller,  in  his  reply, 
complained  at  having  had  his  standpoint  quite 
wrongly  represented.  Both  Ribbeck  and  I  asked, 
after  perusal,  what  now  really  was  Schmoller's 
view,  as  Treitschke's  controversy  had  been  con- 
ducted in  such  a  general  way  as  to  make  it  impos- 
sible to  know  what  referred  to  Schmoller  and  what 
to  the  school  in  general.  All  the  same,  nobody 
who  knew  his  warm  and  philanthropic  disposition 
harboured  the  suspicion  that  Treitschke  intended 
to  become  a  champion  of  class  interests.  He  only 
protested  against  such  erroneous  expressions  as 
"The  Disinherited,"  or  "the  excess  measure  of 
economic  injustice,  which  needs  must  bring  about 
a  crevasse,"  phrases  which  were  to  the  liking  of 
National  Socialists,  but  which  necessarily  played 
into  the  hands  of  the  demagogues,  exciting  the 
working  classes  as  they  did,  and  arousing  hopes  in 
them,  the  realization  of  which  was,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  out  of  the  question.  Although  he  expressly 
pointed  out  that  only  false  prophets  and  instiga- 
tors could  lead  the  labouring  classes  to  believe  that 
any  social  regulation  could  neutralize  the  inequal- 


ioo  Treitschke 

ity  of  the  human  lot,  he  nevertheless  in  a  letter  to 
Sybel  expressed  the  hope:  "We  also  will  get  our 
ten  hours'  bill,  our  factory  inspectors,  and  many 
other  things,  which  are  in  opposition  to  the  Man- 
chester doctrine,"  and  in  this  sense  the  warm- 
hearted friend  of  the  people  acted  in  the  Reichstag. 
Equal  rights  for  all,  and  due  care  for  the  economic- 
ally weaker  and  those  incapable  of  working,  was 
his  motto ;  the  contest  between  him  and  Schmoller 
was,  therefore,  by  no  means  as  great  as  the  strong 
words  exchanged  at  that  time  might  have  led  one 
to  believe.  Like  so  many  big  cannonades,  this 
one  finally  proved  merely  to  be  noisy  reconnoitring 
and  not  a  decisive  battle.  Anyhow,  the  discus- 
sions on  social  questions  between  him  and  Knies 
were  the  most  interesting  experienced  by  the 
round  table,  and  we  regretted  that  they  were 
the  last. 

VII. 

Immediately  after  the  war  the  Prussian  House  of 
Commons  had  granted  considerable  sums  to  raise 
the  University  of  Berlin  to  its  destined  height  again, 
and  Helmholtz  was  the  first  to  receive  such  an  offer 
in  1871,  Zeller  following  in  1872,  and  Treitschke  in 
1874.  No  efforts  were  spared  on  the  part  of  the 
Baden  Government  to  retain  Treitschke.  His 
friends  entreated  him  to  remain.  If  only  he  had 
listened  to  our  supplications  the  German  History 
would  have  been  completed  long  ago,  he  himself 


His  Life  and  Work  101 

would  presumably  still  be  in  the  land  of  the  living, 
and  all  the  hardships  which  the  trying  city  atmos- 
phere caused  him  and  his  family  would  never  have 
found  their  way  to  the  small  house  hidden  behind 
trees  at  the  other  side  of  the  Neckar.  We  urged 
him  not  to  abandon  so  light-heartedly  a  sphere  of 
activity  such  as  he  had  found. 

On  a  slip,  I  wrote  to  him  that  in  Berlin  nobody 
believed  Prussia  to  be  such  a  great  country  as  he 
preached.  "I  would  not  say  such  a  thing,"  he 
replied,  in  angry  fashion,  but  then  he  explained 
that,  owing  to  his  having  to  spend  six  months  in 
the  Berlin  Archives  for  writing  his  History  it  was 
preferable  that  he  should  permanently  remain  in 
Berlin.  But  just  because  empty-headed  Liberal- 
ism was  gradually  gaining  ground  in  Berlin,  he 
wished  to  go  there  to  take  up  the  battle.  He  also 
wrote  to  Jolly  in  this  sense:  "Our  capital  is  not 
to  become  a  second  New  York;  those  who  can  do 
something  to  prevent  this  misfortune  must  not 
abstain  without  good  reason.  Anyone  as  firmly 
attached  to  Prussia  as  I  am  must  not  refuse,  with- 
out good  cause,  if  my  services  are  thought  to  be  of 
use."  In  similar  fashion  he  expressed  himself  to 
Ranke,  who,  by  sending  Treitschke  his  Genesis 
of  the  Prussian  State,  at  once  greeted  him  as  his 
colleague — a  matter  for  great  pride.  He  wrote  to 
the  old  master  as  follows:  "Here  in  Heidelberg 
my  object  was  simply  to  teach  youth,  on  the  whole 
ignorant  but  naive;  over  there  my  task  will  be  to 
uphold  the  positive  powers  of  the  historical  world 


102  Treitschke 

against  the  petulance  of  Radical  criticism.  I  fully 
realise  the  difficult  position  in  which  I  shall  find 
myself  in  consequence  of  the  predominant  Radical 
opinions  in  the  capital.  He  admitted  that  he 
could  not  expect  to  exercise  such  lasting  influence 
upon  the  students  in  Berlin  as  in  Heidelberg,  for 
theatres,  concerts,  and  life  in  the  capital  generally 
prejudiced  the  interest  in  lectures ;  but  he  thought 
he  would  surmount  the  difficulty  in  Berlin,  as  well 
as  he  had  done  in  Leipzig.  Only  one  question 
oppressed  him,  soft-hearted  as  he  was:  "Children 
are  deprived  of  the  best  part  of  their  youth  when 
they  are  dragged  to  a  capital  to  be  brought  up 
there  as  Berlin  Wall-Rats."  "It  is  true,"  he 
subsequently  wrote  to  Freytag,  "my  son  prefers 
the  Zoological  Garden  to  the  Black  Forest ;  a  forest 
is  all  very  fine  and  large,  but  the  Emperor  and  the 
old  'Wrangel'  are  only  to  be  seen  in  Berlin."  At 
first,  negotiations  were  carried  on  regarding  limit- 
ing his  activity,  and  that  of  Droysen,  he,  as  he  told 
me,  not  wishing  "to  raise  shabby  competition  "  with 
the  old  gentleman.  By  the  death  of  Droysen  this 
question  settled  itself.  I  felt  Treitschke 's  impend- 
ing departure  very  much,  and  when  the  matter 
had  become  an  accomplished  fact  the  following 
verses  occurred  to  me  during  a  sleepless  night : 

"Du  gehst  wir  Konnten  Dich  nicht  halten 

Du  gehst  weil  Du  gehen  musst 
Wir  lassen  Deine  Sterne  walten 

Und  bieten  Schweigen  unserer  Brust. " 


His  Life  and  Work  103 

The  other  part  I  have  forgotten,  and  perhaps  it  is 
better  so.  Not  wishing  to  be  counted  amongst  the 
poets  of  the  Tageblatt,  I  merely  signed  the  poem 
"N.  N., "  but  at  our  final  meeting  at  the  Museum 
he  looked  at  me  frankly,  and  amiably  said:  " I  go, 
because  go  I  must,"  and  then  I  knew  that  my 
anonymity  had  been  unavailing.  In  spite  of  the 
academic  encounters  in  the  past  the  colleagues 
assembled  in  great,  although  by  no  means  full, 
numbers.  All  the  same,  everybody  recognized 
his  honesty  and  unselfishness,  just  because  he  had 
been  open  and  very  rough.  Windscheid,  as  Pro- 
Rector,  also  referred  to  the  fact  that  Treitschke 
liked  to  be  where  sharp  thrusts  were  exchanged, 
and  likened  him  to  a  noble  steed  on  the  battle- 
ground, which  cannot  be  kept  back  when  it  hears 
the  flourish  of  trumpets.  No  doubt  we  would  hear 
in  future  of  his  deeds.  The  great  student  of  law 
was  much  too  refined  and  clever  a  personality  to 
undervalue  Treitschke  as  the  "majority"  did, 
but  for  the  mature  and  calm  scientist  the  young 
colleague  was  still  like  new  wine,  and  jokingly  he 
compared  him  to  Percy  Heissporn,  who  regularly 
was  asked  by  his  wife,  when  washing  the  ink  from 
off  his  fingers  before  dinner:  "Well,  Heinrich, 
darling,  and  how  many  have  you  killed  to-day?" 
At  our  last  meeting  Treitschke  told  me  in  his 
usual  kind-hearted  manner  that  there  were  too 
many  important  men  in  this  small  town,  and 
collisions  were  therefore  unavoidable.  In  Weimar 
the  same  conditions  existed  as  is  proved  by  the 


104  Treitschke 

letters  of  Karoline  Herder,  and  Karoline  Schlegel. 
When  he  gaily  described  in  the  German  History 
subsequently  the  battles  of  Voss,  with  Creuzer 
on  the  hot  field  of  Heidelberg,  we  gratefully 
recognized  that  the  memory  of  the  Economic 
Commission,  and  Majority  and  Minority,  still 
continued  to  cling  faithfully  to  his  heart.  There 
might  have  been  at  that  time  too  many  academic 
stars,  but  he  was  never  too  much  for  us,  and  we 
felt  that  the  importance  of  such  men  was  fully 
recognized  only  by  the  void  they  left.  It  was  as 
if  a  spell  had  been  broken,  the  parlour  seemed 
empty,  the  round  table  at  the  Museum  only  half 
occupied,  and  as  Gustav  Freytag  said  at  his  parting 
speech  in  the  Kitzing,  so  we  could  say:  "A  good 
deal  of  poetry  has  disappeared  from  our  circle, 
which  had  warmed  and  elated  us."  Our  circle 
undeservedly  now  resembled  the  defiant  prince  of 
olden  times,  who  was  deserted  by  his  generals  one 
by  one.  The  one  who  now  goes  from  us  is  Max 
Piccolomini.  Fortunately,  although  missed,  he 
was  not  completely  lost  to  us.  He  annually 
accompanied  his  family  to  the  house  of  his  parents- 
in-law  in  Freiburg,  and  we  generally  had  him  in  the 
autumn  for  days  or  hours  with  us  either  at  the 
usual  round  table  or  at  our  house.  Subsequently 
we  saw  him  more  frequently,  as,  on  account  of  his 
eyes,  which  were  being  treated  by  the  Heidelberg 
ophthalmologist,  Dr.  Leber,  he  came  to  us  also  in 
the  spring,  and  was  easily  to  be  found  close  to  my 
house  at  the  "Prinz  Karl"  or  the  "Weinberg," 


His  Life  and  Work  105 

and  was  grateful  when  people  made  him  forget  his 
sorrows  for  an  hour  or  so.  We  therefore  continued 
to  keep  in  touch  with  him.  Merely  to  read  his 
writings  was  insufficient;  one  had  to  hear  him  to 
understand  his  meaning  thoroughly.  When  in 
the  autumn  of  1874  ne  turned  up  for  the  first  time, 
he  was  full  of  praise  for  the  systematic  and  quick 
way  with  which  University  matters  were  settled  in 
Berlin.  As  it  was  not  customary  to  visit  the  wives 
of  colleagues  in  Berlin,  the  education  of  such  forti- 
fied Society  camps,  as  used  to  be  the  case  in 
Heidelberg,  was  conspicuous  by  its  absence. 
With  his  former  Heidelberg  opponents,  Zeller  and 
Wattenbach,  he  was  on  best  terms  there;  besides 
it  was,  as  he  said,  very  healthy  to  be  reminded  daily 
in  this  town  of  millions  that  the  few  people  whose 
company  one  cultivated  did  not  constitute  the 
world.  Every  one  of  them  might  fall  from  a  bridge 
across  the  River  Spree,  and  onwards  would  rush 
the  stream  of  life  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 
When  daily  hurrying  past  thousands  of  people  to 
one's  occupation,  one  only  begins  to  realize  the 
true  proportion  of  one's  dispensability.  Some- 
what less  politely  he  had  expressed  similar  views 
in  an  essay  on  Socialism,  in  which,  willy-nilly, 
we  had  to  apply  to  ourselves  the  remark  that  a 
strong  man  always  felt  steeled  and  elated  when 
fleeing  from  the  restraint,  tittle-tattle,  and  the 
persistent  interference  of  a  small  town.  He  also 
wrote  to  Freytag:  "The  liberty  in  the  capital 
pleases  me,  and  I  should  not  care  about  returning 


106  Treitschke 

to  Heidelberg's  quarrels  and  gossip."  Anyhow, 
he  spoke  of  us  as  "of  his  beautiful  Heidelberg," 
whereas  Leipzig  remained  for  him  "the  empty- 
headed  University,"  meaning  thereby,  of  course, 
not  the  professors,  but  the  disparity  between  the 
great  University  and  the  small  country.  Thus 
he  had  grown  a  proud  Berlin  citizen ;  but  later  on 
he  felt  how  life  in  a  big  city  affected  his  nerves. 
He  complained  of  the  "everlasting  haste  which  was 
called  life  in  Berlin, "  and  which,  above  all,  under- 
mined his  wife's  health.  Even  the  correspondence 
with  Freytag  stopped,  as  Berlin  made  it  impossible 
to  maintain  relations  as  he  wished  and  as  they 
should  have  been  maintained.  This  complaint 
is  intelligible,  as  lectures,  parliamentary  sittings, 
and  the  editorship  of  the  Prussian  Annuals  com- 
pletely occupied  his  time.  Now  and  then  the 
Berlin  papers,  and  especially  the  Tageblatt,  brought 
out  "details  respecting  the  lectures  of  Herr  v. 
Treitschke,"  which  proved  a  totally  new  experi- 
ence to  him  and  to  us.  Treitschke  finally  saw 
himself  compelled  to  declare  that  this  information 
by  no  means  originated  in  student  circles.  As 
the  big  banking  firms  closed  at  6  p.m.  he  had  the 
doubtful  pleasure  of  seeing  at  his  evening  lectures 
all  sorts  of  young  business  men,  of  Christian  and 
Hebraic  confession,  who,  in  their  spare  time, 
apparently,  were  newspaper  reporters.  He  de- 
clared he  was  responsible  to  the  hearers  and  to 
the  authorities  for  his  lectures ;  he  would  continue 
to  maintain  strict  silence  in  regard  to  the  attempts 


His  Life  and  Work  107 

of  the  press  to  worm  information  out  of  him: 
this  does  not  imply  that  he  recognized  the  correct- 
ness of  the  published  information.  But  details 
showing  him  in  a  favourable  light  likewise  made 
their  appearance,  and,  particularly  after  his  death, 
many  of  his  former  hearers  gave  invaluable  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  Treitschke's  lectures.  Felix 
Kruger,  for  instance,  informed  the  Allgemeine 
Zeitung  how  greatly  Treitschke  laid  stress  on  the 
point  that  men  make  history  in  opposition  to 
Lamprecht's  view,  who  held  that  the  history  of  a 
nation  is  not  the  history  of  great  men,  but  that 
circumstances  are  developed  by  circumstances. 
According  to  Kruger,  the  principal  thing  in  the 
reformation  was,  for  Treitschke,  the  peculiarity 
of  the  reformers:  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  the  people's 
favourite  Junker,  whose  Muse  was  Wrath,  or  the 
Rationalist  Republican  Zwingli,  or  the  aristocratic- 
ally-inclined Calvin  with  his  hard  and  cheerless 
fanaticism;  and  on  the  other  hand  Emperor 
Charles,  the  reserved  Spaniard  of  indomitable 
ambition,  pitiless,  and  in  his  innermost  heart  ir- 
religious; next  to  him  his  pedantic  brother,  Fer- 
dinand or  Maurice  of  Saxony,  this  quick  Mussen 
cat,  yet  the  only  one  amongst  the  German  Princes 
of  that  time  who  had  political  talent.  Naturally 
these  vividly  drawn  sketches  made  an  impression 
upon  youth.  When  causing  thereby  an  amusing 
effect  which  gave  rise  to  loud  and  lasting  hilarity 
in  true  student's  fashion,  the  dark  eye  of  the 
speaker  would  unwillingly  glance  over  the  audience 


io8  Treitschke 

an  intimation  that  he  was  in  deadly  earnest  even 
when  dealing  out  satirical  lashes.  In  his  lectures 
on  politics  he  also  surprised  the  hearers  with 
views  which  none  of  them  had  heard  from  him  at 
the  College.  He  pointed  out  that  not  logical  facts 
make  history,  but  passions;  feelings  are  more 
powerful  than  reason.  He  safeguarded  the  right 
of  the  development  of  personalities.  "Only  a 
shallow  mind  can  always  say  the  same."  He 
sneered  at  the  moralizing  contemplation  of  history, 
"the  Sunday  afternoon  preachers  on  Politics." 
Life  is  too  hard  for  philanthropic  phrases,  but 
those  are  not  genuine  realists  who  misjudge  the 
reality  of  moral  forces.  All  his  hearers  realized  that 
these  lectures  acted  like  iron  baths.  We  owe  to 
another  hearer  the  description  of  the  impression 
which  the  first  attempt  on  the  life  of  the  Kaiser 
made  upon  Treitschke.  It  confirms  what  was 
generally  known,  that  Treitschke  never  posed, 
and  on  the  contrary  hated  everything  theatrical. 
The  information  of  the  deed  of  miserable  Hodel 
had  come  to  hand  immediately  before  the  com- 
mencement of  Treitschke's  lecture.  The  audience 
was  silent  as  in  a  church;  depressed,  they  gazed  in 
front  of  them  as  if  a  load  oppressed  their  souls. 
At  last  Treitschke  entered,  but  the  usual  cheering 
which  greeted  his  arrival  was  absent  to-day.  A 
long  time  he  stood  there ;  motionless  he  looked  at 
us  as  if  he  meant  to  say:  "I  realize  you  feel  the 
mortification,  the  disgrace,  the  horrible  disgrace, 
inflicted  upon  us."  Then  he  tried  to  speak;  we 


His  Life  and  Work  109 

noticed  how  agitated  and  disturbed  he  was.  But 
the  impressions  seemed  to  burst  forth  so  vehement- 
ly that  he  bit  his  lips,  and  deeply  sighed  as  if 
trying  to  suppress  his  feelings.  Then  he  hastily 
grasped  his  handkerchief,  and  overwhelmed  by 
emotion  he  pressed  it  to  his  eyes.  I  believe  there 
was  not  a  single  one  amongst  the  hearers  whose 
heart  was  not  thrilled  to  its  innermost  depth  at 
this  silent  process.  Subsequently  he  found  words, 
and  said  he  was  unable  to  discuss  the  wicked  deed ; 
it  choked  him  to  do  so,  and  he  would  continue  the 
history  of  the  Wars  of  Liberation.  Once  more  he 
reviewed  the  previous  history,  and  said  that  there 
is  nothing  to  purify  and  strengthen  the  souls  of 
young,  idealistically  inclined  human  beings  than 
the  fire  test  of  deep  patriotic  sorrow.  He  spoke  of 
the  Battle  of  Leipzig,  and  described  the  tremen- 
dous fight  with  such  vividness,  richness  of  colour, 
and  fire  that  everybody,  carried  away,  hung  on  his 
lips.  And  when  in  his  enthusiastic  manner  he 
described  the  episode  of  how  the  East  Prussian 
Militia,  at  the  head  of  all  others,  stormed  the 
Grimma  Gate  at  Leipzig  and  drove  the  French 
from  the  old  German  town,  all  anguish  had  sud- 
denly departed.  A  feeling  of  relief  and  exaltation 
again  seized  all  our  hearts,  and  the  audience  gave 
vent  to  a  loud  ovation  for  the  man  who,  in  spite  of 
his  last  bitter  disappointment,  did  not  tire  of 
keeping  alive  in  us  enthusiasm  for  our  people  and 
our  history.  The  Berlin  papers  occupied  them- 
selves so  extensively  with  Treitschke  that  we, 


no  Treitschke 

likewise,  in  Heidelberg  were  always  informed 
regarding  his  activity.  Especially  so  long  as  he 
frequently  spoke  in  the  Reichstag,  and  regularly 
discussed  pending  questions  in  the  Prussian  An- 
nuals, our  mental  intercourse  did  not  slacken. 
But  by  reason  of  the  distance  we  sometimes  viewed 
his  standpoint  wrongly.  Judging  by  his  writings 
in  the  Annuals,  I  thought  he  would  be  very  pleased 
with  our  African  acquisitions,  but  when  verbally 
discussing  it  with  him  he  said:  "Cameroons? 
What  are  we  to  do  with  this  sand-box?  Let  us 
take  Holland;  then  we  shall  have  colonies." 
Fortunately  he  failed  to  promulgate  this  view  in 
the  Press. 

Amongst  the  most  unpleasant  duties  which  the 
editorship  of  the  Annuals  entailed,  perhaps  the 
most  disagreeable  one  was  to  review  those  ques- 
tions of  the  day  on  which  to  maintain  silence 
would  have  been  much  more  agreeable.  Above 
all,  it  was  the  Jewish  question  which  had  become 
of  such  pressing  nature  that,  however  painful,  in 
view  of  the  esteem  he  entertained  for  his  colleagues, 
Goldschmidt,  Bresslau,  and  Frenzdorf,  and  the 
recollections  of  his  early  friend,  Oppenheim,  he  was 
obliged  to  touch  on  it.  Considering  the  enormous 
agitation  organized  against  him  after  publication 
of  his  first  article  in  November,  1879,  and  which 
only  poured  fat  into  the  fire,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  he  deliberately  placed  the  following 
sentence  in  front:  "There  can  be,  among  sensible 
people,  no  question  of  a  withdrawal,  or  even  of  only 


His  Life  and  Work  HI 

an  infringement,  of  the  completed  emancipation 
of  the  Jews;  this  would  be  an  apparent  injustice. " 
His  final  appeal  to  the  Jews  not  to  relinquish  their 
religion,  but  their  ambition  to  occupy  a  particular 
national  position,  and  to  become  unreservedly 
Germans,  might  be  called  futile  and  vague;  but 
it  does  not  imply  a  mortification.  The  complaints 
which  Treitschke  brought  before  the  general  notice 
might  have  been  discussed  more  calmly  if  the 
Press  had  not  raised  such  an  outcry  against  him. 
Even  those  who  consider  that  Treitschke's  attitude 
in  this  matter  did  more  harm  than  good  had  to 
admit  extenuating  circumstances  quite  apart  from 
the  fact  that,  after  the  many  frictions  with  the 
Jewish  reporters,  a  final  electric  discharge  had 
become  inevitable  in  view  of  his  temperament. 
His  publicist  activity  brought  him  less  in  contact 
with  the  good  qualities  of  the  Israelites  than  with 
the  Jews  of  the  Press,  amongst  whom  those  of 
Berlin  are  not  exactly  the  most  modest,  and  who, 
with  their  system  of  Press  activity,  were  in  direct 
opposition  to  his  ideals  of  life.  He  observed, 
what  could  escape  no  attentive  reader  of  our 
Press,  that  all  literary  publications  were  praised  or 
torn  to  pieces  according  to  whether  the  author  was 
reputed  to  be  Philo-Semite  or  Anti-Semite.  "And," 
he  says,  "how  closely  this  crowd  of  writers  keeps 
together,  how  reliably  works  this  Immortality 
Assurance  Society,  based  on  the  approved  commer- 
cial principle  of  reciprocity,  so  that  each  Jewish 
poetical  star  receives  on  the  spot,  and  without 


ii2  Treitschke 

rebate  of  interest  for  delay,  the  ephemeral  praise 
administered  by  the  newspapers."  In  the  pres- 
ence of  the  objectionable  agitation  of  these  years, 
George  Eliot,  in  her  last  novel,  Daniel  Deronda, 
reproached  Germany  with  Jewish  persecution,  as 
it  was  Jewish  brains  which  for  the  last  thirty 
years  had  procured  for  Germany  her  position  in  the 
literary  world.  Treitschke,  however,  reproached 
the  Jewish  Press  for  having  tried  to  introduce  "the 
charlatanry  of  the  commercial  world  into  literature 
and  the  jargon  of  the  stock  exchange  into  the 
sanctuary  of  our  language. "  He  put  the  question : 
What  had  the  Jewish  brain  made  of  the  German 
language  in  the  sphere  of  journalism  and  literature, 
in  which  it  reigns  supreme?  Of  the  poets,  who  at 
the  time  contributed  to  Germany's  literary  position 
and  whose  names  live,  George  Eliot  suitably 
recollected  Gutzkow,  Freiligrath,  Freytag,  Geibel, 
Monke,  Bodenstedt,  Claus  Groot,  Fritz  Reuter, 
Storm,  Fontane,  Roguette,  Scheffel,  Baumbach, 
Rosegger,  Anzengruber,  Ganghoffer,  Jenssen, 
Lingg,  Raabe,  Putlitz,  Strachwitz,  Steiler,  Wolff, 
and  many  others.  There  is  not  one  Jewish  brain 
among  them,  and  most  of  the  names  which  the 
Jewish  Press  noisily  proclaimed  upon  their  appear- 
ance are  to-day  submerged  in  the  flood  of  journal- 
ism and  completely  forgotten.  Another  considera- 
tion of  Treitschke  referred  to  the  development  of 
our  school  system  under  the  completely  changed 
denominational  conditions  of  colleges.  Nothing 
had  given  him  so  much  food  for  reflection  as  the 


His  Life  and  Work  113 

sentence  of  his  first  essay:  "From  the  East  fron- 
tier there  pours  year  by  year  from  the  inexhaust- 
ible Polish  cradle  a  huge  number  of  ambitious 
trouser-selling  youths,  whose  children  and  child- 
ren's children,  in  time  to  come,  will  dominate 
Germany's  stock  exchanges  and  newspapers;  the 
immigration  grows  visibly,  and  more  and  more 
seriously  the  question  imposes  itself  how  we  are 
to  amalgamate  this  strange  population  with  ours. 
'What  a  crime,'  a  Jewess  said  to  me,  'that  these 
Jews  give  their  children  a  good  education. ' '  The 
exaggerations  of  Treitschke  also,  in  this  matter, 
are  to  be  regretted ;  but  the  difficulty  still  remains 
that,  as  the  moiety  of  pupils  in  the  higher  classes 
of  colleges  in  Berlin  were  of  Jewish  persuasion,  the 
Christian  view  of  the  world  must  disappear. 
Furthermore,  the  fact  must  not  be  lost  sight  of  that 
the  newspaper  reader,  in  view  of  Jewish  hegemony 
in  the  journalistic  world,  is  apprised  of  the  events 
of  the  world  only  in  the  form  in  which  they  show 
to  advantage  from  the  Jewish  point  of  view.  We 
had  ample  means  to  convince  ourselves  of  this  on 
the  occasion  of  colonial  policy,  financial  reform, 
and  the  discussions  on  the  tobacco  monopoly. 
He  also  spoke  bitingly  in  regard  to  the  influence 
of  a  commercial  world  which  amasses  colossal  for- 
tunes, not  by  productive  labour,  but  by  the  ex- 
change of  securities  and  speculative  transactions; 
and  here,  at  least,  the  movement  initiated  by  him 
has  been  productive  of  good  results,  as  it  caused 
legislation  to  be  enacted.  I,  personally,  was  by 


1 14  Treitschke 

no  means  pleased  at  his  having  become  involved  in 
controversy  with  such  an  influential  literary  power, 
and  I  told  him  candidly  that  for  me  the  question 
does  not  exist  whether  it  is  an  advantage  our 
having  the  Jews — Mommsen  and  Stocker  might 
settle  that.  The  question  to  be  solved,  as  far  as 
I  was  concerned,  is:  What  is  our  duty  since  we 
have  them?  He  himself,  had  no  wish  to  adopt  the 
practical  method  employed  by  Russia;  what, 
therefore,  was  to  be  done?  He  was  amused  at  the 
opinion  of  one  of  his  acquaintances,  saying  the 
Middle  Ages  had  missed  their  vocation  as,  accord- 
ing to  the  principles  of  that  period,  the  question 
might  have  been  settled  without  subsequent 
conscience-pricks.  According  to  him,  his  teacher, 
Dahlmann,  at  the  College,  likewise  had  regretted 
that  the  policy  of  that  Egyptian  Pharaoh  had  not 
been  pursued  more  effectively.  But  when  seri- 
ously asked  his  opinion  what  to  do,  he  was  just 
as  helpless  as  other  people.  His  only  prescription 
was  gentle  restraint,  and  there  even  he  admitted 
that  in  the  present  state  of  affairs  this  had  become 
impracticable,  as  even  he  himself  made  exceptions 
in  favour  of  his  friends.  But,  as  he  had  no 
prescription  for  the  solution  of  this  eminently 
practical  question,  not  even  a  tangible  proposal, 
it  was  ostensibly  an  error  for  a  practical  politician 
to  make  an  enemy  for  all  times  of  this  great  power 
in  Berlin.  He  lost  in  life  valuable  and  even  Chris- 
tian fellow-workers  for  his  own  object,  and  by  the 
sneering  tone  of  his  articles  he  particularly  puzzled 


His  Life  and  Work  115 

the  ladies'  world.  The  public  declaration  of 
Mommsen's  friends,  reproaching  him  with  having 
sacrificed  tolerance,  the  great  heritage  of  Lessing, 
and  inciting  youth  against  the  Jews,  caused  him 
deep  and  lasting  pain.  The  latter  reproach  was 
due  to  untrue  statements  having  been  disseminated 
by  Christian-Germanic  youths. 

A  Leipzig  student  called  on  him  to  seek  his 
advice  as  to  whether  he  and  his  friends  should  sign 
the  Forster  anti-Semitic  petition.  Treitschke  de- 
clared he  disagreed  with  the  contents  of  this  peti- 
tion, and  also  considered  it  wrong  for  students  to 
be  mixed  up  in  legislative  questions.  If  they  were 
determined  to  make  a  manifesto  they  should  do  so 
in  a  more  suitable  form  and  remember  to  leave 
undisturbed  the  academic  peace.  "After  this 
conversation,"  Treitschke  himself  relates,  "I  for 
weeks  heard  nothing  of  the  matter,  until  suddenly, 
to  my  greatest  astonishment,  through  a  newspaper 
notice,  I  ascertained  the  existence  of  a  Leipzig 
Students'  Petition"  (in  which  a  sentence  asserted 
Treitschke  had  given  his  assent  to  the  intended 
action  of  anti-Semitic  students).  "I  at  once 
wrote  to  that  student,  reminded  him  of  the  real 
meaning  of  our  conversation,  and  demanded  the 
immediate  expurgation  of  that  passage.  He 
replied  very  repentantly,  asked  my  pardon,  assured 
me  that  he  had  been  greatly  excited  during  the 
conversation,  and  consequently  had  quite  mis- 
understood me;  he  also  promised  to  have  that 
passage  eliminated,  which  actually  was  done. 


n6  Treitschke 

The  mendacious  reference  to  Treitschke,  however, 
caused  so  much  discussion  that  Treitschke  sent 
to  a  member  of  the  Senate  a  written  declaration 
for  transmission  to  the  Rector,  and  when  Momm- 
sen,  in  a  pamphlet,  repeated  the  reproach,  calling 
Treitschke  the  moral  instigator  of  the  Leipzig 
Students'  Petition  against  the  Jews,  Treitschke 
was  obliged  to  give  a  public  declaration  to  demon- 
strate the  history  of  the  incident.  Thus  the 
question  had  produced  academic  factions  of  still 
greater  animosity  than  the  previous  ones,  as  in 
this  case  Jews  were  in  question.  In  consequence 
of  this  conflict,  Treitschke  fell  out  with  his  nearest 
friends,  and  again  he  had  the  impression  he  was 
shunned  and  tabooed.  Nevertheless,  he  recog- 
nized with  great  respect  that  Mommsen  had 
abruptly  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the  attempts  of 
several  younger  Jewish  colleagues  in  their  en- 
deavour to  take  advantage  of  his  philo-Semitic 
disposition  for  their  own  benefit.  ' '  There  the  great 
scientist  came  again  to  the  fore."  Mommsen, 
however,  was  not  conciliatory.  He  reproached 
Treitschke  with  animosity  against  Jews,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  a  true  appreciation  of  Heine  in 
his  literary  report  was  lacking.  "Where  genius 
faces  us,  we  must  kneel  down  and  worship,"  he 
said,  "and  it  is  Treitschke's  doom  that  he  cannot 
do  that. "  It  was  doubtful  to  me  whether  falling 
down  and  worshipping  was  exactly  Mommsen's 
force.  On  the  contrary,  it  seemed  to  me  worthy 
of  note  that  Treitschke,  in  spite  of  his  personal 


His  Life  and  Work  117 

aversion,  recognized  in  Heine  the  true  voice  of 
romance,  contrary  to  Victor  Hehn,  who  simply 
explained  the  ring  of  Goethe's  lyrics  in  Heine's 
songs,  by  the  talent  of  imitation  akin  to  the  Jew. 
In  these  questions,  likewise,  Treitschke's  judg- 
ment, after  the  long  and  bitter  struggle,  was  of 
lamentable  mildness,  which  I  was  the  last  to 
expect  after  the  sharp  attacks  in  the  Annuals. 
Although  convinced  he  had  merely  done  his  duty, 
he  was  deeply  hurt  that  the  great  number  of 
friends  now  had  shrunk  to  a  few  anti-Semites, 
whose  adoration  he  had  to  share  with  Rector 
Ahlwardt.  His  was  a  love-thirsty  disposition. 

"Du  nahst  der  Welt  mit  einer  Welt  voll  Liebe 
Dein  Zauber  ist  das  mutig  freie  Herz 
War's  moglich  dass  sie  dir  verschlossen  bliebe?" 

he  had  written  in  his  youth  when  deafness  broke 
in  upon  him.  Similar  feelings  overcame  him  now 
with  the  estrangement  of  so  many  who  gave  his 
words  the  cold  shoulder.  The  feeling  against  him 
did  not  last,  but  the  consequences  of  this  conflict 
went  further  than  was  visible  at  first.  The  articles 
on  the  Jews  form  a  turning-point  in  Treitschke's 
political  position,  and  in  his  occupation  as  publicist, 
and  they  were  not  even  without  influence  upon  his 
personal  comfort. 

When  these  consequences  promptly  arose,  Erd- 
mansdoerffer  reminded  me  of  a  saying  of  Berthold 
Auerbach,  who  had  predicted  of  another  anti- 


n8  Treitschke 

Semite:  "Like  all  Hamans,  he  will  have  a  bad 
end."  As  the  result  of  the  so-called  Mommsen 
Declaration,  bitter  dissension  arose,  not  only 
between  Treitschke  and  the  Jews,  but  also  between 
the  Liberals  of  both  camps.  All  the  more  en- 
thusiastically the  Conservative  party  gathered 
round  him,  and  soon  enough  we  saw  him  in  the 
ranks  of  the  party  which  he  had  contested  during 
the  whole  of  his  life.  Formerly  his  opinion  was: 
"Christian  love  is  more  frequently  to  be  found 
amongst  the  much-abused  Incredulous  than 
amongst  the  Clergy.  .  .  .  More  and  more  it 
will  become  apparent  that  churches  do  not  suffice 
for  the  spiritual  needs  of  mature  people."  Now 
his  position  demanded  that  he  should  view  his 
struggle  against  Judaism  simultaneously  with  a 
struggle  for  his  Church.  "  Mommsen, "  he  writes, 
"passes  over  the  religious  contrast  with  some  in- 
different words.  I  maintain  a  different  standpoint 
towards  positive  Christianity.  I  believe  that 
through  maturing  culture  our  deeply  religious 
people  will  be  led  back  to  a  purer  and  more  vigor- 
ous spiritual  life,  and  therefore  cannot  silently 
pass  over  the  invectives  of  the  Jewish  Press  against 
Christianity,  but  consider  them  as  attacks  on  the 
fundaments  of  our  morals,  as  disturbances  of  the 
peace  of  the  country."  The  next  consequence  of 
this  attitude  was  that,  contrary  to  his  former  utter- 
ances on  undenominational  schools,  he  now  de- 
clared denominational  schools  as  normal,  whereas, 
as  late  as  1872,  he  had  appealed  to  the  new  Minis- 


His  Life  and  Work  119 

ter  of  Public  Instruction  to  send  Jewish  teachers 
to  those  colleges  which  Heir  von  Muhler  had 
declared  as  being  denominational  according  to 
observance.  Soon  we  were  as  much  amazed  at 
the  literary  manifestoes  of  our  friend  as  the  veter- 
ans of  Napoleon,  who,  after  the  Concordat, 
wondered  how  the  "Little  Corporal"  had  learned 
to  preach  so  beautifully.  Trietschke's  relations 
with  the  orthodox  parsons  date  from  this  struggle 
and  they  soon  found  ways  and  means  to  bring  it 
about  that  the  "great  patriot"  appeared  as 
speaker  at  the  meetings  arranged  by  them.  It  is 
well  known  what  struggles  Treitschke,  in  his  youth, 
had  with  his  father  on  account  of  his  free-thinking 
ideals.  Nor  did  he  show  at  Heidelberg  very  great 
predilection  for  the  clergy;  nay,  it  required 
patience  to  endure  his  everlasting  attacks  upon 
the  theologians.  At  the  christening  of  his  second 
daughter,  he  drank  the  health  of  Grandmama  in 
charming  fashion:  "People  always  said  a  good 
deal  about  mothers-in-law,  but  he  could  only  say 
the  best  of  his."  In  consequence  of  my  having 
been  blessed  at  the  same  time  with  a  son  he  had  to 
propose  another  toast,  which  was  well  meant,  but 
which  ended  with,  "Do  not  let  the  boy  become  a 
parson."  Embarrassed  as  I  was,  I  could  only 
reply  that  up  till  now  my  baby  boy  had  shown  no 
other  talent  than  for  preaching  and  the  touching 
of  feminine  hearts.  I  must,  therefore,  reserve  his 
calling  for  him.  These  "parsons" — he  never  used 
to  call  the  clergy  differently — were  in  his  eyes  a 


I2O  Treitschke 

very  subordinate  class  of  men,  and  being  what  he 
was,  this  disdain  seemed  more  natural  than  the 
subsequent  alliance.  He  used  to  display  equal 
aversion  to  the  Catholic  and  the  Evangelic  Church. 
To  his  Catholic  wife  he  said,  mockingly,  "Thy 
parsons, "  and  to  me,  "Your  parsons, "  considering 
it  at  the  same  time  a  very  lucky  thing  that  Ger- 
many had  not  become  completely  Lutheran. 
"  We  should  have  turned  out  a  nice  lot  if  you  alone 
had  brought  us  up."  After  such  antecedents  it 
was  a  considerable  matter  for  surprise  to  find 
him  in  Berlin  sitting  on  the  same  bench  with  the 
parsons  of  the  Municipal  Mission.  The  struggle 
against  the  Jews  characterizes  the  turning-point 
in  his  life,  nay — it  prepared  the  end  of  his  publicist 
activity.  The  man  who,  from  the  very  beginning, 
turned  to  advantage  Treitschke's  Conservative 
tendencies  in  Berlin  was  the  President  of  the 
Evangelic  Superior  Church  Council,  his  Gottingen 
master  and  Heidelberg  colleague,  Herrmann.  He 
induced  him  to  take  side  in  the  Prussian  Annuals 
against  the  Berlin  Liberal  clergy,  who  had  spoiled 
Herrmann's  game  by  their  attacks  upon  the 
apostolicity.  As  Treitschke  continued  calling 
himself  a  free-thinker,  his  suitability  for  defending 
apostolicity  and  reprimanding  the  Rationalist 
clergy  was,  to  say  the  least,  very  doubtful.  I 
took  their  part  in  the  Allgemeine  Zeitung,  but  at  the 
same  time  wrote  to  him  that  I  was  the  author  of 
the  article  against  him,  hoping  he  would  not  take 
it  ill.  His  reply  was:  "Please  do  not  write  for  a 


His  Life  and  Work  121 

paper  in  which  only  the  scum  of  German  professors 
deposit  their  spawn."  But  soon  enough  he  him- 
self had  to  be  glad  to  be  able  to  deposit  his  declara- 
tions there,  as  they  were  just  as  unsuitable  for  the 
Liberal  Press  as  for  the  Kreuz  Zeitung.  At  our 
next  meeting  he  told  me  that  since  his  struggle 
with  the  Jews  he  was  considered  much  more 
reactionary.  Minister  von  Puttkamer  expressed 
great  surprise  when  Treitschke,  on  being  placed 
next  to  Stocker,  had  asked  for  an  introduction ;  in 
Berlin  it  was  considered  a  matter  of  course  that  all 
anti-Semites  should  be  on  friendly,  nay,  brotherly, 
terms. 

When  asked  by  me  what  he  thought  of  Stocker, 
he  replied  evasively,  "Well,  quite  a  different 
school;  something  like  the  Kreuz  Zeitung. "  Later 
on  he  shielded  the  Court  Preacher  against  the 
Berlin  Press.  The  witness  affair  could  have 
happened  to  anybody.  When  holding  on  one  and 
the  same  day  two  or  three  meetings  it  was  im- 
possible to  recognize  everybody  with  whom  he  had 
spoken,  and  if  one  were  to  search  the  editorial 
tables  of  Liberal  newspapers,  many  reprehensible 
letters  would  be  found.  It  happened  to  have  been 
a  carelessly  written  washing  list.  To  suspect 
morally  political  opponents  was  contrary  to  his 
chivalrous  nature.  I  had,  on  that  day,  a  long  and 
exhaustive  conversation  with  him  on  the  religious 
question ;  but  I  could  not  gain  the  impression  that 
his  relationship  to  religious  questions  had  become 
a  different  one  from  what  it  used  to  be.  He  always 


122  Treitschke 

had  been  of  a  positive  nature,  and  hated  that  one 
should  impair  the  impression  of  something  great 
by  criticism.  That  is  why  he  had  no  sympathies 
for  Strauss.  He  praised  the  Bible  for  placing 
before  us  a  number  of  the  most  magnificent  wars 
and  warriors,  and  in  this  way  teaching  youth 
manliness.  It  was  clear  to  him  that  the  principal 
item  of  instruction  in  elementary  schools  was  to  be 
religion.  He  thought  that  firmly  inculcated  scrip- 
tural passages,  which  come  to  the  memory  of  the 
young  man  in  the  hour  of  temptation,  form  a  moral 
backbone.  Elementary  education  should  also 
impart  to  the  people  a  theory  of  life ;  this,  however, 
could  only  be  Church  doctrine.  The  choice  lies 
solely  between  Christianity  and  Materialism,  all 
intermediary  systems  having  proved  ineffective 
from  a  pedagogical  point  of  view.  For  these 
reasons,  as  an  author,  he  took  the  part  of  the 
Positive  party,  for  nothing  could  be  achieved  by 
Liberalism  amongst  the  people;  but  no  more  now 
than  previously  did  he  affect  to  be  in  accordance 
with  the  Church.  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  struggle 
against  the  powers  of  destruction  filled  him  with 
growing  respect  for  the  forces  we  are  dependent 
upon,  but  his  philosophical  convictions  had  re- 
mained the  same;  his  judgment  of  Radicals  alone 
had  accentuated.  Almost  comical  was  his  indigna- 
tion against  the  Berlin  Press.  He  wondered 
whether  the  future  would  realize  the  stupidity  of 
a  legislation  which  permitted  every  Jew  to  drag 
into  publicity  whatever  pains  and  grieves  other 


His  Life  and  Work  123 

human  beings,  and  yet  remain  in  the  dark,  singing : 
"Oh  wie  gu  dass  niemand  weiss  dass  ich  Rumpel- 
stilchen  heiss!"  ("I  take  good  care  to  let  none 
know  that  my  name  is  Ikey  Mo").  In  addition, 
the  privilege  of  deputies  to  slander  with  impunity 
all  absentees!  His  aversion  for  the  Berliners  was 
very  much  in  the  ascendant.  He  thought  that  the 
most  unbearable  form  of  stupidity,  which  affects 
to  understand  everything,  was  the  one  most  fre- 
quently encountered  in  Berlin.  There  was  still  a 
humorous  ring  in  all  he  said,  and  yet  I  missed 
the  former  cheerfulness  with  which  he  smiled  at 
the  turns  of  his  own  speeches.  He  was  no  more 
Liberal,  and  as  time  wore  on  his  periodical  sank 
to  the  level  of  a  small  local  publication  of  the  few 
Independent  Conservatives.  In  the  end  he  had  to 
experience  that  the  Prussian  Annuals,  which 
owed  him  everything,  got  rid  of  him  in  1889,  the 
publisher  not  wishing  to  see  that  Liberal  periodical 
steer  into  reactionary  channels.  The  two  editors 
did  not  agree,  and  he  never  used  to  decipher  the 
initials  H.  D.  of  his  fellow-writer  otherwise  but 
"Hans  Daps"  ("Hans,  the  Duffer").  But  soon 
Hans  Daps  threw  him  overboard,  and  although 
Treitschke  was  glad  to  be  freed  from  duties  which 
delayed  his  life-work,  he  never  imagined  he  would 
have  to  part  from  his  Annuals  under  such  condi- 
tions. He  experienced,  partially,  how  they  now 
developed  into  the  Polish  Danish  Annuals,  which 
did  not  increase  his  pleasure  at  their  latest  era. 
Treitschke's  attitude  against  the  Puttkamer  ortho- 


124  Treitschke 

graphy,  had  the  approval  of  his  Heidelberg  friends, 
especially  that  of  Herrmann,  who,  meanwhile,  had 
returned  to  us.  Treitschke  was  assured  that  Putt- 
kamer  himself  realized  subsequently  his  mistaken 
procedure.  We  were  less  in  sympathy  with  his 
declaration  against  Gossler's  proscription  of  foreign 
words,  Treitschke  himself  having  formerly  com- 
plained about  the  jargon  of  Vienna  stock  exchange 
and  cafes  which  spoil  our  language. 

Particularly  in  Treitschke's  fourth  volume  of 
German  History,  published  in  1889,  his  position, 
altered  since  the  Jewish  question  in  regard  to 
ecclesiastical  policy,  made  itself  felt.  But  in 
the  whole  work,  full  of  unbounded  enthusiasm,  the 
parts  which  adulate  the  pioneers  of  pietism,  the 
mission,  and  Lutheranism,  are  those  which  give  us 
a  forced  impression.  Most  strikingly  was  it  de- 
monstrated in  the  History  of  Literature,  where  he 
discussed  D.  Fr.  Strauss  in  such  a  slighting  manner. 
At  the  time  he  had  read  Strauss's  books  as  he  had 
read  all  important  novelties.  When  giving  a 
characteristic  account  of  this  most  influential 
critic  of  the  present  day,  in  his  German  History,  he 
had  nothing  in  front  of  him,  except  my  biography 
of  Strauss,  in  two  volumes,  from  which,  almost 
verbally,  is  culled  the  final  passage  of  his  para- 
graph; but,  as  a  rule,  he  simply  used  to  turn  my 
conclusions  upside  down.  Whereas  I  had  laid 
stress  upon  the  deep  tragedy  of  his  life,  which 
makes  the  whole  of  his  future  dependent  upon 
the  first  epoch-making  work,  and  whereas  I 


His  Life  and  Work  125 

showed  how  embitterment,  likewise,  had  impaired 
Strauss's  creative  power,  his  version  was  that 
Strauss  was  one  of  those  unhappy  geniuses  who 

[developed  in  retrograde  manner,  as  if  Hutten,  the 
old  and  new  faith,  and  the  poetical  memorandum 
book,  did  not  represent  the  goal  of  this  retrogres- 
sion— works  which  are  more  read  to-day  than  the 
(Life  of  Jesus.  He  exaggerated  the  parable  of  the 
founder,  and  the  Suabian  Master  of  Arts,  to  such 
an  extent,  as  to  describe  Strauss's  Theology  as  the 
outpourings  of  a  bookworm,  and  repeating  Dubois 
Reumont's  well-known  reference  to  a  ward  of 
women  suffering  from  cancer,  who  could  not  be 
comforted  by  Strauss's  Theology.  He  maintained 
that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Spiritual  Guide  to  comfort 
the  weary  and  the  oppressed — as  if  Strauss  had 
ever  denied  it,  and  had  had  the  intention  to  write 
for  women  suffering  from  cancer.  He  would  have 
done  better  to  leave  such  arguments  to  his  new 
clerical  friends. 

After  such  experiences  I  was  very  pleased  that, 
in  regard  to  the  Zedlitz  School  Law  Proposal,  he 
defended  no  other  standpoint  than  the  one  ex- 
pressed by  me  in  the  Kolnische  Zeitung,  in  which, 
at  the  request  of  the  editor,  I  compared  Baden 
School  legislation  with  that  of  Zedlitz.  At  a  loss 
to  find  admission  elsewhere,  Treitschke  was  now 
obliged  to  descend  into  the  arena  of  the  Allgemeine 
Zeitung,  which  formerly  used  to  be  so  unsympa- 
thetic to  him.  To  fight  side  by  side  with  the  old 
companion  afforded  me  particular  pleasure,  for  he 


126  Treitschke 

warned  the  Government  to  pass  a  bill,  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Conservatives  and  Ultramontanes 
which  was  repugnant  to  the  majority  of  the  Protes- 
tants, and  which  abandoned  the  principle  that  the 
School  belongs  to  the  State.  He  also  admitted  so 
many  exceptions  to  the  recently  promulgated  rule 
that  schools  are  to  be  denominational,  that  hardly 
any  difference  remained  between  his  views  and 
those  of  the  Liberals.  His  coming  forward  had  to 
be  appreciated  all  the  more  since,  during  the  last 
three  years,  he  had  completely  turned  his  back  on 
the  writing  of  political  articles  and,  personally,  had 
great  sympathies  for  Count  Zedlitz;  whereas  it 
visibly  afforded  him  pleasure  to  attack  Caprivi. 
He  declared  Zedlitz  to  be  one  of  the  most  amiable 
and  capable  men  of  the  Prussian  aristocracy,  but 
it  was  the  curse  of  the  present  day  to  employ 
clever  people  in  the  wrong  place.  Zedlitz  would 
have  been  the  right  man  for  the  Agricultural 
Portfolio,  but  for  a  hundred  and  one  reasons  he 
was  least  fitted  to  be  Minister  of  Public  Instruction. 
Treitschke's  contest  with  Baumgarten,  al- 
though forced  upon  him,  was  less  pleasing  to  me. 
Like  all  strong,  subjective  dispositions,  Baum- 
garten demanded  absolute  objectiveness  from 
everybody  else,  and  while  he  himself  bubbled  over 
with  bright  paradoxes,  exaggerations  and  risky 
assertions  on  the  part  of  his  friends  were  totally 
unbearable  to  him.  Already,  in  Karlsruhe,  he 
used  to  say  of  many  a  symptom  of  Prussomania  of 
Treitschke,  "Every  kind  of  idolatry  is  bad." 


His  Life  and  Work  127 

While  Treitschke,  in  Berlin,  had  gradually  identi- 
fied himself  more  and  more  with  the  views  of 
Prussian  Conservatives,  Baumgarten,  in  Strass- 
burg,  had  conceived  a  passionate  aversion  for 
Prussian  bureaucracy.  Thanks  to  his  friend, 
Roggenbach,  entrusted  with  the  Chair  for  Modern 
History,  at  the  time  of  the  foundation  of  the 
Strassburg  University,  he  had  closely  attached 
himself  to  the  Protestant  Alsatians,  particularly  to 
those  of  the  Theologian  Faculty,  and  had  defended 
their  cause  first  for  Roggenbach,  and  later,  in  the 
Senate.  In  opposition  to  the  Prussian  violence  of 
some  ambitious  men,  who  strove  to  take  possession 
of  the  funds  of  the  Thomas  Home  for  the  benefit  of 
the  University,  he  pointed  out  that,  thanks  to 
these  foundations,  Protestantism,  in  Alsace,  had 
been  preserved  and,  as  Rector,  he  brought  about 
the  abandonment  of  this  proposal  which  would  for 
ever  have  alienated  the  Protestants  from  Prussia. 
He  endorsed  the  complaints  of  Alsatian  parents 
regarding  Prussian  School  Administration,  having 
himself  become  involved  in  a  heated  discussion 
with  the  Director  of  the  School  on  account  of  his 
son.  He  stigmatized  as  political  insanity,  Man- 
teuffel's  patronage  of  Notables,  who  were  the 
hated  opponents  of  his  Pro-German  Alsatian 
friends,  and  referred  to  the  testimony  of  Count 
Turckheim  and  others,  who  had  had  the  intention 
of  becoming  Prussian,  but  now  met  their  Alsatian 
sworn  enemies  in  the  drawing-room  of  the  Govern- 
or as  family  friends.  All  these  experiences  had 


128  Treitschke 

produced  in  Baumgarten  a  feeling  which,  although 
he  did  not  wish  it  to  be  called  Prussophobia, 
nevertheless  resembled  it  as  one  egg  resembles 
another.  Anyhow,  the  Alsatians  were  his  friends, 
and  the  Prussian  officials  were  the  continuous  ob- 
ject of  his  criticism,  whereby  he  rose,  of  course,  in 
the  favour  of  the  Administration.  But  when  every 
new  volume  of  Treitschke's  historical  work  took 
a  more  one-sided  Prussian  view  than  the  previous 
one,  and  Treitschke  excused  in  Prussia  what  he 
considered  a  crime  in  Austria,  and,  moreover, 
regarded  with  particular  contempt  the  Small 
States  and  their  Liberalism,  Baumgarten  lost 
patience,  which  never  had  been  his  strong  point. 
This  was  the  cause  of  the  polemical  pamphlet, 
published  in  1885  against  Treitschke,  of  which 
Sybel  rightly  said  that  Baumgarten's  system  of 
tracing  every  difference  of  opinion  to  a  wrong 
moral  condition,  could  only  be  explained  patho- 
logically. It  was,  perhaps,  expressed  too  strongly 
when  Treitschke  spoke  of  a  mass  of  abuse  and 
suspicions  in  the  "libellous  pamphlet";  but  no- 
body will  agree  with  Baumgarten,  who  discovers 
in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  works  of  our  historic 
literature  nothing  but  exaggerations  and  wrong 
conclusions,  and  contends  that  this  history  might 
truly  be  read  as  truth  and  fiction.  Phrases  such  as 
the  following:  "Notice  how  his  own  achievement 
corresponds  with  his  arrogance,"  were  neither  in 
harmony  with  the  old  friendship  for  Treitschke 
nor  with  the  importance  of  the  assailant  himself, 


His  Life  and  Work  129 

whom  nobody  placed  in  the  same  rank  with 
Treitschke. 

Treitschke  was  deeply  hurt  at  the  hostile  attack 
upon  the  work  which  he  had  written  with  his  life 
blood.  "When  I  started  this  work,"  so  he  wrote 
to  Egelhaaf,  "I  harboured  the  harmless  idea  it 
must  yet  be  possible  to  please  for  once  the  Ger- 
mans. I  am  now  cured  of  this  delusion.  We  are 
still  lacking  a  natural  history  tradition;  by  repre- 
senting modern  history  as  it  has  happened,  one 
encounters  at  every  step  struggles  with  party 
legends;  and  must  put  up  with  abuse  from  all  sides. 
I  hope,  however,  my  book  will  live,  and  when  I 
shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of  Prussian  misdeeds 
under  Friedrich  Wilhelm  IV  the  Press  will  perhaps 
also  adopt  a  different  attitude.  In  the  long  run, 
I  am  not  afraid  of  the  judgment  of  the  South  Ger- 
mans. The  real  seat  of  acrimonious  captiousness, 
which  to-day  poisons  our  public  life,  is  the  North. 
The  Upper  Germans  have  understood  better  at  all 
times  how  to  live,  and  let  live.  I  am  confident, 
that  with  the  adjustment  of  the  struggle  for  civili- 
zation there  will  be  formed  in  the  political  world 
an  element,  conservative  in  the  true  sense.  Con- 
tinue to  be  of  good  courage  for  your  patriotic 
struggles,  my  dear  Sir;  time  will  come  when  Ger- 
mans again  will  enjoy  life  and  their  country,  and 
will  overcome  the  political  children's  complaint  of 
aimless  dissatisfaction." 

The  partial  justice  of  Baumgarten's  polemics, 
which  we  also  recognize,  did  not  lie  in  isolated 

9 


130  Treitschke 

blame  which  Treitschke  successfully  refuted,  and 
against  which  both  Sybel  and  Erdmansdoerffer, 
both  certainly  competent  judges,  objected  to.  It 
was  against  the  general  distribution  of  light  and 
shade,  that  objection  could  be  raised.  In  a  work 
judging  so  severely  nearly  all  monarchs  of  Europe, 
the  idealization  of  Friedrich  Wilhelm  III  was 
most  surprising.  The  King  who  had  behaved 
feebly  during  the  war,  and  in  peace  times  perse- 
cuted patriots  such  as  Arndt,  and  John,  and  de- 
stroyed the  life  of  hundreds  of  brave  young  men 
because  in  every  member  of  a  Students'  Corps  he 
suspected  a  Jacobin  and  with  narrow-minded 
obstinacy  clung  to  this  prejudice,  who  in  the  desire 
to  obtain  qualification  for  liturgies  bestowed  upon 
Prussia  the  disorganizing  ritual  quarrel,  and  re- 
fused the  clergy  who  demurred  an  increase  of 
salary,  who  drove  the  Lutherans  into  separation, 
who  with  his  stupid  adoration  of  Metternich  and 
the  Czar  had  to  be  styled  the  strongest  supporter 
of  the  reaction  in  Germany,  he  remains  for  us  a 
bad  monarch,  and  the  personal  good  qualities  and 
domestic  virtues,  which  nobody  contests,  Treitsch- 
ke would  never  have  so  strongly  emphasized 
in  the  case  of  a  Habsburg  or  a  Wittelsbach. 
Treitschke  by  no  means  disguised  these  events,  but 
his  final  judgment  is  reminiscent  of  Spittler's 
characterization  of  the  author  of  the  Formula  of 
Concord  of  which  the  caustic  Suabian  Spittler 
said  that  counting  up  all  his  bad  qualities,  and 
questionable  actions,  one  wonders  that,  on  the 


His  Life  and  Work  131 

whole,  such  an  honourable  figure  was  the  outcome 
of  it.  It  was  natural  that  the  South  German 
Democracy  approved  of  Baumgarten's  attack 
upon  their  most  dangerous  opponent;  the  Jewish 
Press  in  Berlin  made  propaganda  for  his  pamphlet, 
and  when  visiting  us  in  the  autumn  Treitschke 
complained  that  at  every  bookseller's  window 
Baumgarten's  booklet  glared  at  him,  and  that 
certain  students  in  order  to  annoy  him  placed  it 
during  lectures  before  them.  But  not  one  bitter 
word  he  uttered  against  Baumgarten,  and  it  was 
only  sad  that  an  old  friendship  came  to  an  end  in 
this  way.  In  a  letter  to  Heigel  he  replied  to  the 
reproach  that  in  his  Prussian  arrogance  he  con- 
sidered the  South  Germans  only  as  Second  Class 
Germans  in  the  following  manner:  "I  am  only 
politically  a  Prussian;  as  a  man  I  feel  more  at 
home  in  South  and  Central  Germany  than  in  the 
North;  nearly  all  my  fondest  recollections  date 
from  Upper  Germany,  my  wife  is  from  Bodensee, 
and  my  daughters  born  in  the  Palatine  are  con- 
sidered South  Germans  here.  I  hope  you  will  not 
be  one  of  those  who  will  be  biased  by  Baumgarten's 
acrimony.  In  my  opinion  historic  objectiveness 
consists  in  treating  big  things  in  a  big  way,  and 
small  things  in  a  small  way.  It  was  my  duty  to 
show  that  the  old  Prussian  absolutism  has  done 
great  and  good  deeds  after  1815,  and  that  South 
German  constitutional  life  had  to  go  through 
difficult  years  of  apprenticeship  before  it  was 
clarified.  If  these  incontestable  facts  are  uncom- 


132  Treitschke 

fortable  for  present-day  party  politics,  I  must  not 
therefore  pass  them  in  silence,  or  screen  them. 
Whatever  you  may  think  about  them,  you  will  not, 
I  hope,  find  North  German  prejudices  in  my  book. 
To  my  mind  Baumgarten  was  always  the  embodi- 
ment of  the  ugliest  fault  of  North  Germans,  i.  e., 
acrimonious  fault-finding,  and  it  almost  amuses  me 
that  he  sets  himself  up  as  South  Germany's 
attorney,  when  from  the  South  I  am  constantly  re- 
ceiving reports  concurring  with  my  views."  Baum- 
garten himself  denied  the  offensive  nature  of  his 
expressions,  and  only  when  Erdmansdoerffer,  in  a 
discussion  in  the  Grenzbote  anent  Baumgarten's 
own  writings,  rendered  certain  parts  verbatim  in 
parenthesis,  he  could  have  realized  how  such  words 
would  appeal  to  the  attacked  party. 

All  this  unpleasantness,  however,  seemed  in- 
significant in  the  presence  of  a  fate  which,  since 
1892,  threatened  the  hero  already  tried  sufficiently. 
Working  night  after  night  he  had  kept  awake  by 
incessant  smoking  until  he  contracted  nicotine 
poisoning,  which  affected  his  eyes.  As  he  under- 
went the  Heidelberg  ophthalmologist's  treatment 
he  spent  a  longer  period  during  the  holidays  in 
Heidelberg  than  hitherto.  It  was  impossible  to 
imagine  anything  more  pathetic  than  the  perspec- 
tive which  he,  without  lamentation,  yet  with 
deadly  earnest  was  taking  into  consideration: 
"  Life  is  not  worth  living  when  I  am  both  deaf  and 
blind"  he  said,  but  how  could  we  console  him? 
Reading  from  lip  movements  was  most  difficult 


His  Life  and  Work  133 

for  him  considering  the  increasing  weakness  of  his 
eyes ;  writing  was  not  to  be  thought  of,  so  that  any 
connected  conversation  was  impossible:  "Why  all 
this  to  me?"  he  asked  bitterly.  His  excellent  wife 
was  ill  in  a  neurotic  establishment,  his  only  son 
had  died  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  the  eldest  daughter, 
formerly  his  principal  interpreter,  married  abroad. 
"I  do  not  wish  for  anything  else  in  life,"  he  said, 
"but  to  be  able  to  work.  Is  that  an  unreasonable 
wish? "  Who  would  have  thought  that  this  strong 
nature  might  ever  have  needed  consolation.  The 
leave-taking  in  April,  1893,  was  intensely  sad.  In 
the  autumn  I  was  again  called  from  the  garden; 
Herr  Treitschke  was  waiting  on  the  balcony. 
When  entering  he  joyfully  stretched  forth  both 
hands.  "How glad  I  am  I  came  to  you!  When  I 
was  here  last  time  I  could  not  see  the  Castle,  it  was 
as  if  a  fog  were  in  front  of  my  eyes,  and  now  I  see 
the  outlines  clearly.  I  am  getting  better!"  The 
doctor  also  had  expressed  himself  as  being  satisfied. 
Joyfully  he  related  that  more  than  ever  his  lec- 
tures had  afforded  him  consolation.  As  he  was  not 
allowed  either  to  read  or  write  he  had  devoted  the 
whole  of  his  time  to  their  preparation,  and  with  his 
admirable  memory  he,  but  rarely  referring  to  a 
book,  with  such  assistance  as  happened  to  be 
available,  had  delivered  his  lectures,  and  caused 
enthusiasm  amongst  the  students  as  in  his  best 
days.  In  the  happy  mood  in  which  he  was  on  that 
day  he  consented  to  my  inviting  for  the  evening, 
all  the  old  friends  from  his  Heidelberg  times,  and 


134  Treitschke 

some  other  admirers ;  and  he  was  so  gay  and  lively, 
that  nobody  would  have  suspected  him  to  be  a  man 
fated  to  hear  henceforth  of  the  outer  world  only 
by  letters  pressed  into  his  hands.  The  improve- 
ment was  a  lasting  one.  The  fifth  volume  ap- 
peared in  the  autumn  of  1894,  an(i  ^  force  of  style 
and  clearness  of  matter  fully  equalled  the  former 
books.  It  was  an  enigma  how,  in  view  of  the  care 
he  had  to  exercise  in  regard  to  his  eyes,  he  could 
have  mastered  this  literature.  But  the  enemy  had 
not  cleared  the  field;  it  simply  attacked  from 
another  quarter.  In  the  winter  of  1896,  the  sad 
news  arrived  that  Treitschke  had  been  struck 
down  by  an  incurable  kidney  disease.  He  fought 
like  a  hero,  but  hope  there  was  none.  Soon  dropsy 
set  in,  and  the  heart  in  its  oppressed  state  caused 
the  strong  man  indescribable  feelings  of  anguish. 
"Who  is  to  finish  my  book?"  he  asked. 

Bailleu,  in  his  beautiful  necrologue,  relates  of 
these  last  days:  "I  found  him  turning  over  with 
difficulty  his  excerpts,  and  reading  with  visible 
effort.  He  began  to  speak  of  his  sixth  volume, 
whose  progress  I  had  discussed  with  him  in  the 
Archives,  bringing  him  one  part  after  another. 
His  suffering  features  became  animated  when, 
speaking  of  the  unassuming  greatness  of  the  Prince 
of  Prussia,  whose  campaign  in  Baden  he  had 
studied,  and  by  which  he,  with  the  Prussian  Army, 
in  the  general  dissolution  of  1848  wished  to  repre- 
sent the  healthy  basis  for  the  future  of  Germany. 
'Our  dear  old  gentleman!  Since  his  death  every 


His  Life  and  Work  135 

possible  misfortune  has  befallen  me.'  I  tried  to 
console  him  by  referring  to  the  growing  success  of 
his  German  History.  'Oh,  I  have  had  but  little 
luck  in  life,  and  if  now — but  it  can't  be.  God 
cannot  take  me  away  before  I  have  finished  my 
sixth  volume,  and  then — '  as  if  soliloquizing,  he 
added,  'I  have  yet  the  other  work  to  write."'  I 
believe  few  of  Treitschke's  friends  could  have  read 
these  details  without  being  moved  to  tears.  For 
some  days  there  seemed  to  be  an  improvement. 
The  day  before  his  death,  he  had  joked  with  his 
daughters  in  his  old  style.  On  the  morning  of  28 
April,  1896,  he  was  gently,  and  quickly,  relieved 
of  his  sufferings.  At  his  funeral,  admirers  and 
friends  from  near  and  far  assembled.  Soon  after, 
his  children  sent  me  a  dear  memento  from  their 
father.  There  had  been  three  pictures  in  his 
room.  The  first,  Kamphausen's  Battle  of  Freiberg: 
in  the  foreground  a  Saxon  colonel  is  to  be  seen  as 
prisoner,  and  also  conquered  flags,  and  drums 
emblazoned  with  the  Saxon  arms.  "When  will 
these  blessed  days  come  back?"  he  once  wrote  to 
his  friend,  Gutschmid.  The  second  picture  was 
Mentzel's  Great  Elector,  whom  Erdmansdoerffer 
kept  in  good  memory.  The  third  picture,  by 
Schrader,  sent  to  me  by  the  daughters,  I  liked 
best.  It  represented  Cromwell  listening  to  his 
blind  friend,  Milton,  when  he  played  the  organ. 
I  knew  that  this  picture  of  the  poet,  who  was  also 
lacking  a  sense,  and  who,  nevertheless,  had  thrown 
his  weight  into  the  scale  of  human  culture,  had 


136  Treitschke 

often  been  a  consolation  to  him.  At  the  same  time, 
the  widow  sent  me  the  photo  of  my  friend  lying 
on  his  death-bed.  Asleep,  he  seems  on  it,  rocked 
in  happy  dreams.  The  dearest  recollections  are, 
however,  to  me,  the  many  volumes  of  his  works, 
which  he  had  sent  me  regularly.  I  can  never  read 
even  one  of  these  pages  without  a  re-awakening  of 
the  sound  with  which  he  would  have  spoken  that 
passage,  and  without  my  seeing  the  spirited  smile 
which  accompanied  his  words;  this  sheet-lightning 
of  his  mind  had  something  irresistible  in  his  big 
features,  and  even  those  had  to  smile  who  were  not 
at  all  in  sympathy  with  his  utterances.  Much  he 
has  had  to  suffer,  and  more  he  escaped  through 
timely  death,  and  yet  he  has  been  one  of  the  hap- 
piest mortals,  a  favourite  of  the  gods ;  as  the  poet 
justly  says : 

"  Alles  geben  die  Gotter  unendlichen  ihren  Lieblingen 

ganz 

Alle  Freuden  die  unendlichen  alle  Schmerzen  die 
unendlichen  ganz." 

But  one  question  was  at  that  time  on  every- 
body's lips,  with  which  he,  himself,  departed  from 
the  world:  "Who  will  now  finish  the  German 
History  as  he  would  have  done?  "  And  the  answer 
is :  No  one. 


THE  ARMY. 
I. 

THE  possession  of  a  powerful  and  well-disciplined 
Army  is  a  sign  of  great  excellence  in  a  nation, 
not  only  because  the  Army  is  a  necessary  stand-by 
in  our  relations  with  other  countries,  but  also 
because  a  noble  people  with  a  glorious  past  will 
be  able  to  use  its  Army  as  a  bloodless  weapon  for 
long  periods  together.  The  Army  will  also  be  a 
popular  school  for  manly  virtue  in  an  age  when 
business  and  pleasure  often  cause  higher  things 
to  be  forgotten.  Of  course,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  there  are  certain  highly-strung  and  artistic 
natures  which  cannot  endure  the  burden  of  military 
discipline.  People  of  this  kind  often  cause  others 
to  hold  quite  erroneous  views  on  universal  service. 
But  in  dealing  with  these  great  questions  one 
must  not  take  abnormal  persons  as  a  standard, 
but  rather  bear  in  mind  the  old  adage,  "Mens 
sana  in  corpore  sano."  This  physical  strength 
has  particular  significance  in  periods  such  as  ours. 
One  of  the  shortcomings  of  English  culture  lies 
in  the  fact  that  the  English  have  no  universal 
military  service.  This  fault  is  in  some  measure 
atoned  for  on  the  one  hand  by  the  extraordinary 

137 


138  Treitschke 

development  of  the  Fleet,  and  on  the  other  by 
the  never-ending  little  wars  in  countless  colonies 
which  occupy  and  keep  alive  the  virile  forces  of 
the  nation.  The  fact  that  great  physical  activity 
is  still  to  be  observed  in  England  is  partly  due  to 
the  constant  wars  with  the  colonies.  But  a  closer 
view  will  reveal  a  very  serious  want.  The  lack 
of  chivalry  in  the  English  character,  which  presents 
so  striking  a  contrast  with  the  naive  loyalty  of  the 
Germans,  has  some  connection  with  the  English 
practice  of  seeking  physical  exercise  in  boxing, 
swimming,  and  rowing,  rather  than  in  the  use  of 
noble  arms.  Such  exercises  are  no  doubt  useful; 
but  no  one  can  fail  to  observe  that  this  whole 
system  of  athletics  tends  to  further  brutalize  the 
mind  of  the  athlete,  and  to  set  before  men  the 
superficial  ideal  of  being  always  able  to  carry  off 
the  first  prize. 

The  normal  and  most  reasonable  course  for  a 
great  nation  to  pursue  is,  therefore,  to  embody  the 
very  nature  of  the  State ;  that  is  to  say,  its  strength, 
in  an  ordered  Army  drawn  from  its  people  and 
perpetually  being  improved.  The  ultra-sensitive 
and  philosophical  mode  of  regarding  these  ques- 
tions has  gone  out  of  fashion  among  us  who  live 
in  a  warlike  age,  so  that  we  are  able  to  come  back 
to  the  view  of  Clausewitz,  who  looked  upon  war 
as  a  mighty  continuation  of  politics.  All  the 
peace-advocates  in  the  world  put  together  will 
never  persuade  the  political  powers  to  be  of  one 
mind,  and  as  long  as  they  differ,  the  sword  is  and 


The  Army  139 

must  be  the  only  arbiter.  We  have  learned  to 
recognize  the  moral  majesty  of  war  just  in  those 
aspects  of  it  which  superficial  observers  describe 
as  brutal  and  inhuman.  Men  are  called  upon  to 
overcome  all  natural  feeling  for  the  sake  of  their 
country,  to  murder  people  who  have  never  before 
done  them  any  harm,  and  whom  they  perhaps 
respect  as  chivalrous  enemies.  It  is  things  such 
as  these  that  seem  at  the  first  glance  horrible  and 
repulsive.  Look  at  them  again  and  you  will  see 
in  them  the  greatness  of  war.  Not  only  the  life 
of  man,  but  also  the  right  and  natural  emotions 
of  his  inmost  soul,  his  whole  ego,  are  to  be  sacri- 
ficed to  a  great  patriotic  ideal;  and  herein  lies  the 
moral  magnificence  of  war.  If  we  pursue  this 
idea  still  further,  we  shall  see  that  in  spite  of  its 
hardness  and  roughness,  war  links  men  together 
in  brotherly  love,  for  it  levels  all  differences  of 
rank,  and  draws  men  together  by  a  common  sense 
of  the  imminence  of  death.  Every  student  of 
history  knows  that  to  do  away  with  war  would 
be  to  cripple  human  nature.  No  liberty  can  exist 
without  an  armed  force  ready  to  sacrifice  itself 
for  the  sake  of  freedom.  One  cannot  insist  too 
often  on  the  fact  that  scholars  never  touch  upon 
these  questions  without  presupposing  that  the 
State  only  exists  as  a  sort  of  academy  of  arts  and 
sciences.  This  is  of  course  also  part  of  its  duty, 
but  not  its  most  immediate  duty.  A  State  which 
cultivates  its  mental  powers  at  the  expense  of  its 
physical  ones  cannot  fail  to  go  to  ruin. 


140  Treitschke 

Generally  speaking,  we  must  admit  that  the 
greatness  of  historical  life  lies  in  character  rather 
than  in  education;  the  driving  forces  of  history 
are  to  be  found  on  spheres  where  character  is 
developing.  Only  brave  nations  have  any  real 
history.  In  the  hour  of  trial  in  national  life  it  be- 
comes evident  that  warlike  virtues  have  the  cast- 
ing vote.  There  is  great  truth  in  the  old  phrase 
which  described  war  as  the  examen  rigorosum 
of  the  States.  In  war,  the  States  are  called  upon 
to  show,  not  only  the  extent  of  their  physical, 
but  also  of  their  moral  power,  and  in  a  certain 
measure  of  their  intellectual  capacity.  .  .  .  War 
brings  to  light  all  that  a  nation  has  collected  in 
secret.  It  is  not  an  essential  part  of  the  nature 
of  armies  to  be  always  fighting;  the  noiseless 
labour  of  armament  goes  on  equally  in  time  of 
peace.  The  entire  value  of  the  work  done  for 
Prussia  by  Frederick  William  I  did  not  appear  until 
the  days  of  Frederick  the  Great,  when  the  tremen- 
dous force  which  had  been  slowly  collecting  sud- 
denly revealed  itself  to  the  world  at  large.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  year  1866. 

And  just  because  war  is  nothing  more  than  a 
powerful  embodiment  of  politics,  its  issues  are 
decided,  not  by  technical  factors  alone,  but  chiefly 
by  the  policy  which  directs  it.  It  is  very  signi- 
ficant that  when  Wrangel  and  Prittwitz  might 
have  been  able  to  get  the  better  of  the  Danes  in 
1848,  and  1849,  the  King,  who  seems  to  have 
felt  horror  at  the  thought  of  taking  this  step,  and 


The  Army  141 

who,  moreover,  feared  Russia,  did  not  himself 
know  what  he  wanted.  An  Army  can  never  be 
expected  to  fight  when  its  leaders  are  in  doubt  as 
to  the  advisability  of  a  particular  military  action. 
Every  war  is  by  nature  a  radical  one,  and  in  many 
cases  the  efficiency  of  the  troops  will  prove  useless 
in  face  of  the  hesitation  and  aimlessness  of  the 
policy  which  it  serves.  Remember  the  campaign 
in  Champagne  in  1792.  One  technical  superiority 
of  the  Prussian  and  Austrian  troops  over  the  sans 
culottes  was  at  that  date  still  very  considerable, 
and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Mannheim  a  single 
battalion  of  the  Wedell  Regiment  prevented  two 
French  divisions  from  crossing  the  Rhine  during 
the  whole  of  one  day.  But  still  the  political  result 
of  the  war  was  the  complete  downfall  of  the  coali- 
tion. The  Allies  were  not  of  one  mind;  their 
policy  lacked  all  definite  aim,  and  the  campaign 
was  being  conducted  at  haphazard.  Political 
considerations  of  this  kind,  which  interfere  with 
the  strategy  of  the  leaders,  are  particularly  dis- 
astrous in  wars  conducted  by  coalitions,  and 
history  has  often  proved  the  truth  of  the  line, 
"the  strong  man  is  strongest  when  alone."  In  the 
campaigns  of  1813  and  1814,  the  incompetent 
Prussian  generals,  in  concert  with  the  talented 
Prussian  commanders,  carried  on  war  to  the  knife, 
whereas  the  more  competent  Austrians,  who  were 
hindered  by  the  aimless  policy  of  their  country, 
showed  themselves  lukewarm  and  indifferent. 
A  policy  such  as  that  of  the  Austrians  could  not 


142  Treitschke 

hope  to  find  a  better  commander  than  Schwarzen- 
berg.  Many  wars  have  been  lost  before  they 
were  begun  because  they  were  the  result  of  a 
policy  which  did  not  know  its  own  mind.  Every 
healthy-minded  Army  is  conscious  of  a  strong 
sense  of  chivalry  and  personal  honour.  But  under 
certain  circumstances  this  military  sense  of  honour 
becomes  oversensitive.  Abuses  are,  of  course, 
to 'be  deplored,  but  this  touchiness  is  in  itself  a 
wholesome  symptom.  The  duel  is  not  a  thing 
which  can  be  disregarded  even  among  civilians. 
In  a  democratic  community  the  duel  is  the  last 
protest  which  can  be  made  against  a  complete 
subversion  of  social  manners  and  customs.  A 
certain  restraint  is  put  upon  a  man  by  the  thought 
that  he  will  risk  his  life  by  offending  against  social 
usage;  and  it  is  better  that  now  and  then  a  pro- 
mising young  life  should  be  laid  down  than  that 
the  social  morality  of  a  whole  people  should  be 
brutalized.  A  sense  of  class  honour  also  fosters 
the  great  moral  strength  which  resides  in  the  Army 
and  which  is  the  cause  of  a  large  part  of  its  effec- 
tiveness. The  officers  would  lose  the  respect  of 
their  subordinates  if  they  did  not  show  a  more 
ticklish  sense  of  honour  and  a  finer  breeding. 
Since  duelling  was  abolished  in  England,  moral 
coarseness  in  the  Army  has  been  on  the  increase, 
and  officers  have  been  known  to  come  to  blows  in 
railway  carriages  in  the  very  presence  of  their 
wives.  It  is  obvious  how  greatly  such  conduct 
must  impair  the  respect  due  from  the  men  to  their 


The  Army  143 

superiors.  The  statement  of  the  democrat  that 
a  man  of  the  lower  classes  will  more  readily  obey 
his  equal  than  a  gentleman  is  entirely  false.  The 
respect  of  a  soldier  for  a  man  of  really  distinguished 
character  will  always  be  greater  than  his  respect 
for  an  old  corporal.  This  truth  was  plainly  de- 
monstrated in  the  last  war,  when  it  was  found  that 
the  French  officers  did  not  possess  enough  authority 
over  their  men. 

As  warfare  is  but  the  tremendous  embodiment 
of  foreign  policy,  everything  relating  to  military 
affairs  must  have  a  very  intimate  connection  with 
the  constitution  of  the  State,  and,  in  its  turn, 
the  particular  organization  of  the  Army  must 
determine  which  of  many  types  of  warfare  shall 
be  followed.  Because  the  Middle  Ages  were 
aristocratic,  most  of  the  battles  then  fought 
were  between  cavalry,  which  has  always  been  the 
pre-eminently  aristocratic  instrument  of  war. 
The  results  of  this  idea  may  still  be  observed 
to-day.  Too  great  a  preponderance  of  cavalry  is 
always  a  sign  that  the  economic  condition  of  a 
nation  is  still  defective,  and  that  the  power  of  the 
aristocracy  in  the  State  is  too  absolute.  .  .  . 
Mechanical  weapons  have,  on  the  other  hand, 
always  been  the  especial  property  of  the  middle 
classes.  Engineering  has  always  flourished  among 
commercial  nations,  because  they  possess  both 
capital  and  technical  skill.  Among  the  ancients, 
the  Carthaginians  were  technically  the  most 
important  nation  in  military  affairs;  but  Rome 


144  Treitschke 

conquered  them  in  the  end,  not  because 
her  generals  were  better,  but  because  of 
the  moral  force  which  held  her  National  Army 
together. 

For  however  important  technique  may  be  in 
war,  it  never  turns  the  scales  unaided.  Economic 
considerations  such  as  skill  in  engineering  or  in 
systematic  collaboration  can  never  help  one  to 
determine  the  value  of  an  Army.  Still,  this  is 
what  the  commercial  nations  seek  to  do,  for  they 
look  upon  an  Army  of  purely  professional  soldiers 
as  the  best.  It  is  not  technical  but  abstract  and 
moral  superiority  that  tells  in  the  long  run  in  war. 
As  far  as  physical  capacity  goes,  the  English 
soldiers  are  very  efficient;  they  are  trained  to  box, 
and  are  fed  on  an  incredibly  liberal  scale.  But 
even  people  in  England  are  realizing  more  and 
more  strongly  that  there  is  something  wrong  with 
their  Army,  and  that  it  cannot  be  compared  with 
a  National  Army  because  the  moral  energies  of 
the  people  are  excluded  from  it.  The  world  is  not 
as  materialistic  as  Wellington  supposed.  Wel- 
lington used  to  say  that  enthusiasm  in  an  Army 
could  only  produce  confusion  and  other  ill- 
effects.  The  really  national  weapon  of  England 
is  the  Fleet.  The  martial  enthusiasm  of  the 
country — and  it  is  far  stronger  than  is  usually 
supposed  on  the  Continent,  because  the  idea  of 
a  British  universal  Empire  is  very  general  among 
the  people — must  be  sought  on  the  men-of- 
war. 


The  Army  145 

In  considering  these  questions  we  must  never 
lose  sight  of  the  purely  moral  value  of  the  National 
Army  as  opposed  to  its  purely  national  and  poli- 
tical value.  We  must  be  quite  clear  as  to  whether 
the  perpetual  complaints  of  the  great  cost  of  our 
military  system  are  justified.  It  is  certain  that 
the  blood-tax  imposed  by  the  military  burden  is 
the  greatest  which  a. nation  can  be  called  upon  to 
bear.  But  we  must  never  forget  that  there  are, 
and  ought  to  be,  things  which  are  above  all  price. 
Moral  possessions  have  no  price,  and  it  is  therefore 
unreasonable  to  try  to  reckon  the  value  of  the 
honour  and  power  of  the  State  in  terms  of  money. 
Money  can  never  represent  what  we  lost  when  the 
flower  of  our  youthful  manhood  fell  on  the  battle- 
fields of  France.  It  is  unworthy  to  judge  the 
possessions  of  the  soul  as  if  they  were  material. 
A  great  nation  is  acting  in  a  right  and  reasonable 
way  if  it  seeks  to  give  expression  to  the  idea  of  the 
State,  which  stands  for  power,  in  the  form  of  a 
well-ordered  military  organization.  Without  it, 
trade  and  intercourse  could  not  prosper.  If  one 
were  to  try  to  imagine  the  country  without  the 
Army  which  protects  our  civil  peace,  it  would  be 
impossible  to  say  how  great  would  be  the  decrease 
in  our  national  revenues. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  right  to  bear 
arms  must  always  be  looked  upon  as  the  privilege 
of  a  free  man.  It  was  only  during  the  last  period 
of  the  Roman  Empire  that  the  system  of  keeping 
mercenaries  was  adopted.  And  as  mercenary 


146  Treitschke 

troops  consisted,  except  for  their  officers,  of  the 
lowest  dregs  of  society,  the  idea  soon  became 
prevalent  that  military  service  was  a  disgrace; 
and  the  free  citizen  began  to  show  himself  anxious 
not  to  take  part  in  it.  This  conception  of  the 
mercenary  system  has  gone  on  perpetuating  itself 
through  the  ages,  and  its  after-effects  have  been 
strikingly  demonstrated  even  in  our  own  day. 
Our  century  has  been  called  upon  to  witness,  in 
the  formation  of  the  National  and  Civil  Guards, 
the  most  immoral  and  unreasonable  developments 
of  which  the  military  system  is  capable.  The 
citizens  imagined  themselves  too  good  to  bear 
arms  against  the  enemies  of  their  country,  but 
they  were  not  averse  to  playing  at  soldiers  at 
home,  and  even  to  being  able  to  defend  their  purse 
if  it  should  happen  to  be  in  danger.  Hence  the 
truly  disgusting  invention  of  the  National  Guard, 
and  the  inhuman  legal  provision  that  in  the  event 
of  a  popular  disturbance  the  adored  rabble  might 
receive  an  immediate  shaking  at  the  hands  of  the 
guard.  The  Army  was  only  to  interfere  if  things 
became  serious.  This  shows  a  complete  failure 
to  realize  the  moral  nobility  of  the  duty  of  defence. 
The  right  to  bear  arms  will  ever  remain  the  honor- 
ary privilege  of  the  free  man.  All  noble  minds 
have  more  or  less  recognized  the  truth  that 
"The  God  Who  created  iron  did  not  wish 
men  to  be  thralls."  And  it  is  the  task  of  all 
reasonable  political  systems  to  keep  this  idea 
in  honour. 


The  Army  147 

II. 

The  example  of  the  German  National  Army 
has  had  an  irresistible  influence  on  the  rest  of 
Europe.  The  ridicule  heaped  on  it  in  previous 
decades  has  now  been  shown  to  be  unwarranted. 
It  was  the  custom  abroad  to  look  down  on  the 
Prussian  territorial  system  (Landwehr)  and  on  the 
Prussian  boy  army.  Things  are  very  different 
now.  We  know  now  that  moral  factors  in  war- 
fare weigh  more  heavily  than  technical  excellence ; 
and  it  is  further  evident  that  the  ever-increasing 
technical  experience  of  life  in  barracks  brings 
with  it  a  corresponding  brutalization  of  the  moral 
instincts.  The  old  sergeants  of  France  were  in 
no  way  superior  to  the  German  troops,  as  the 
French  had  expected.  We  may  say  with  truth 
that  the  problem  of  giving  a  military  education 
to  the  strength  of  the  nation  and  of  making  full 
use  of  the  trained  Army  was  first  seriously  dealt 
with  in  Germany.  Our  Army  constitutes  a  pecu- 
liar and  necessary  continuation  of  the  scholastic 
system.  For  many  people  it  would  be  impossible 
to  devise  a  better  means  of  education.  For  such 
persons,  living  as  they  do  in  a  period  in  which 
mental  restraint  is  lacking,  the  drill  and  enforced 
cleanliness,  and  strict  military  discipline  are  in- 
dispensable from  every  point  of  view.  Carlyle 
prophesied  that  the  Prussian  conception  of  uni- 
versal military  service  would  go  the  round  of  the 
globe.  Since  1866  and  1870,  when  the  organiza- 


148  Treitschke 

tion  of  the  Prussian  Army  stood  its  trial  so  bril- 
liantly, nearly  all  the  other  great  Powers  of  the 
Continent  have  sought  to  imitate  its  methods. 

But  imitation  abroad  is  not  as  easy  as  was 
supposed  because  the  Prussian  Army  is  really  a 
nation  in  arms,  and  the  peculiarities  and  refine- 
ments of  the  national  character  are  naturally 
exemplified  in  it.  Above  all,  a  system  of  this 
kind  cannot  be  established  unless  the  nation  pos- 
sesses a  certain  degree  of  political  freedom,  is 
satisfied  with  the  existing  regime,  and  can  count 
on  social  freedom  in  the  Government.  A  natural 
respect  for  superior  education  is  also  necessary,  for 
without  it  the  institution  of  the  One-year  Volun- 
teers would  be  unthinkable.  This  system  has 
been  introduced  simply  in  order  to  make  it  econo- 
mically and  morally  possible  for  young  men  belong- 
ing to  the  educated  classes  to  serve  in  the  ranks. 
In  France  this  voluntary  system  has  proved  a 
failure  because  an  external  equality  between 
different  classes  of  men  has  been  insisted  upon. 
In  Germany  we  could  hardly  do  without  it.  Quite 
apart  from  the  fact  that  our  supply  of  professional 
officers  is  not  nearly  large  enough  in  the  event  of 
war,  the  educated  young  men  who  in  the  One-year 
Voluntary  Service  transforms  into  territorial 
reserve  officers,  and  who  stand  in  many  ways  in 
a  closer  relationship  to  the  people  than  the  pro- 
fessional officers,  form  a  natural  link  between  the 
latter  and  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Army. 

The  heavy  burden  of  universal  military  service 


The  Army  149 

can  be  lightened  in  a  certain  measure  by  decentrali- 
zation, which  usually  enables  a  man  to  serve  in 
his  native  province.  Our  Provincial  Army  Corps 
have,  on  the  whole,  quite  justified  their  existence. 
They  should  remain  the  rule;  and  as  a  wholesome 
counterweight  we  have,  in  the  Guard,  a  corps 
which  includes  men  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
and  forms  a  crack  regiment,  one  of  whose  functions 
it  is  to  spur  on  the  rest  of  the  Army.  The  rigid 
centralization  of  France  makes  the  existence  of 
Provincial  Army  Corps  such  as  ours  an  impossibil- 
ity. The  natives  of  Normandy  and  of  the  Pyre- 
nees there  stand  side  by  side  in  the  same  regiment. 
In  Germany,  on  the  other  hand,  common  national- 
ity is  rightly  looked  upon  as  a  strong  cement  which 
will  ensure  the  solidarity  of  separate  bodies  of 
troops.  This  universal  military  service,  if  it  is 
to  preserve  the  existence  of  the  State,  must 
naturally  presuppose  unity  in  the  nation  as  a 
whole.  One  or  two  isolated  little  provinces, 
peopled  by  foreign  races,  do  not  greatly  affect  the 
question,  and  a  few  simple  precautions  will  do 
away  with  any  threatened  danger  from  those 
quarters.  In  Austria  things  are  more  serious, 
because  there  the  officers  in  the  Reserve  are  the 
weak  point  of  the  army.  They  are  good  Czechs, 
good  Germans,  and  good  Magyars,  but  not  good 
Austrians;  and  this  flaw  may  some  day  bring 
about  disastrous  consequences. 

In  all  these  matters  of  military  organization 
we  were  until  quite  lately  the  leader  of  the  other 


150  Treitschke 

nations.  During  the  last  few  years  the  neighbour- 
ing States  have  made  such  strenuous  efforts  to 
obtain  military  power  that  we  have  been  obliged 
to  go  further — this  time  in  imitation  of  other 
nations.  The  furthest  limits  to  this  onward  move- 
ment are  improved  by  nature  of  things,  and  the 
enormous  physical  strength  of  the  Germanic  race 
will  see  to  it  that  we  have  a  perpetual  advantage 
in  this  respect  over  the  less  faithful  nations. 
The  French  have  nearly  reached  the  utmost  limits 
of  their  capacity;  the  Germans  possess,  in  this 
respect,  far  wider  elbow-room. 

I  will  ask  you  once  more  to  observe  the  nature 
of  the  influence  exercised  on  warfare  by  these  new 
methods  in  military  affairs.  The  general  tend- 
ency of  this  system  is  towards  peace.  A  nation 
in  arms  is  not  as  easily  drawn  away  from  its  social 
occupations  to  take  part  in  a  frivolous  war  as  a 
Conscript  .Army  would  be.  Wars  will  become 
rarer  and  of  shorter  duration,  although  more 
bloody.  Desire  to  return  home  will  drive  the 
Army  to  advance.  The  temper  of  the  Prussian 
soldiers  in  the  summer  of  1866,  expressed  in  the 
words,  "Let  us  press  on  towards  the  Danube, so 
that  we  may  get  home  again  soon,"  should  be 
looked  upon  as  the  normal  temper  of  a  courageous 
and,  at  the  same  time,  peace-loving  National  Army. 
There  can  be  no  difficulty,  to-day,  in  understand- 
ing the  bold  spirit  in  warfare  which  seeks,  above 
all,  to  plunge  a  dagger  into  the  heart  of  the  enemy. 
It  may  be  said  that  nothing  is  absolutely  impossible 


The  Army  151 

to  a  National  Army  of  this  kind  when  the  nation 
can  look  back  over  a  glorious  past.  The  experi- 
ences of  our  last  two  wars,  especially  in  the  Battles 
of  Koniggratz  and  Mars  La  Tour,  have  proved 
this  to  be  true.  We  saw,  at  the  Battle  of  Sadowa, 
that  fourteen  Prussian  battalions  could  stand 
against  something  like  forty-two  Austrian  ones; 
and  the  Franco-Prussian  War  furnished  us  with 
numerous  instances  of  decisive  battles  in  which  we 
fought  facing  our  own  frontiers,  so  that  if  we  had 
lost  we  should  have  been  driven  back  into  the 
interior  of  the  enemy's  country.  In  the  case  of 
a  modern  national  army,  the  duty  of  sparing  men 
is  entirely  swallowed  up  in  the  higher  duty  of 
annihilating  the  enemy.  The  fear  of  desertion 
need  not  be  entertained ;  the  Army  can  be  billeted 
wherever  it  is. 

The  famous  saying  of  Montecucoli,  cited  even 
by  Frederick  the  Great,  belongs  to  a  period  now 
entirely  past.  Montecucoli  had  said  that  in  order 
to  wage  war  a  nation  must  have  money,  and 
money,  and  yet  more  money.  It  is  true  that  a 
great  deal  of  money  is  needed  for  the  preparations 
involved  by  war;  but  when  fighting  has  once  begun, 
the  conqueror  can  do  without  ready  money.  He 
can  simply  fall  back  on  the  resources  of  the  occu- 
pied territory,  and  may  even  abstain  from  paying 
his  troops  for  the  moment.  Once,  when  Blucher 
imposed  a  huge  war  contribution  on  the  French 
in  order  to  feed  his  hungry  soldiers,  the  King  sent 
an  order  forbidding  him  to  embitter  the  French 


152  Treitschke 

too  much,  and  promising  that  the  soldiers'  pay 
should  be  procured  in  Prussia.  Blucher  replied, 
"Your  Majesty's  Army  is  not'  a  mercenary  army. 
Even  if  I  am  not  permitted  to  take  money  from  a 
hostile  country,  we  will  not  be  an  unnecessary 
burden  to  our  mother  country."  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  Napoleon  began  the  campaign  of 
1806  with  a  war  chest  of  forty  thousand  francs, 
and  in  1813  we  were,  ourselves,  in  a  far  worse 
plight.  We  had,  at  the  beginning,  only  two 
thousand  thalers  (about  six  thousand  marks)  in 
cash;  but  the  first  thing  we  did  was  to  turn  the 
pecuniary  resources  of  the  Saxons  into  ready 
money,  and  so  we  went  on. 

A  certain  self-reliance  on  the  part  of  under- 
commanders  has  become  a  necessity  in  the  enor- 
mous National  Army  of  the  present  day.  General 
Manteuff  el  once  told  me  that  on  the  misty  morning 
of  the  Battle  of  Noisseville,  he  was  only  able  to 
give  quite  general  directions;  for  the  rest,  he  relied 
entirely  on  the  initiative  and  sense  of  responsibility 
of  his  generals.  The  final  stages  in  the  develop- 
ment of  war  on  the  principle  of  universal  service 
have  not  yet  been  reached,  and  the  world  has  not, 
as  yet,  beheld  a  war  between  two  national  armies. 
During  the  first  half  of  the  last  great  war,  we 
witnessed  a  meeting  between  a  really  national 
army  and  a  conscript  army,  and  later,  an  impro- 
vised Militia.  The  spectacle  of  the  encounter 
between  two  perfectly  trained  national  armies, 
which  we  have  yet  to  see,  will  certainly  be  a 


The  Army  153 

gigantic  one.  The  world  will  then  witness  enor- 
mous losses,  and  enormous  results.  And,  if  we 
consider  the  multitude  of  new  technical  devices 
produced  in  these  modern  times,  we  must  realize 
that  future  wars  will  give  rise  to  far  more  astound- 
ing revelations  than  any  during  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War. 

The  new  means  of  transport  are  especially 
important  in  modern  warfare.  A  State  cannot 
have  too  many  railways  for  military  purposes. 
An  immediate  occupation  of  an  enemy's  country 
is  especially  important  in  modern  warfare,  for  it 
puts  an  effective  stop  to  all  recruiting.  One  of 
Napoleon  Ill's  most  serious  mistakes  in  1870 
was,  that  he  failed  to  occupy  at  least  a  portion  of 
the  left  bank  of  the  Rhine.  We  could  not,  at  the 
outset,  have  prevented  him  from  doing  so,  and 
this  fact  is  openly  stated  in  the  introduction  to  the 
work  composed  by  the  general  staff,  which  Moltke 
no  doubt  wrote  himself.  We  should,  by  that 
means,  have  lost  two  army  corps  from  our  field 
army. 

It  is  certain,  then,  that  the  more  railways  lead 
to  the  frontier,  the  better.  But  I  must  here  repeat 
that  everything  has  its  natural  limits.  It  is  true 
that  an  extensive  railway  system  facilitates  the 
collection  of  an  army  on  the  frontier  the  moment 
war  is  declared;  but  during  the  war  its  use  is  far 
more  restricted.  It  is  quite  easy  for  a  scouting 
party  to  make  a  railway  impracticable  for  a  long 
time.  The  working  capacity  of  a  railway  is  also 


154  Treitschke 

limited,  and  it  can  only  transport  a  given  number 
of  men  and  guns  in  each  day.  Our  general  staff 
has  calculated  that  an  army  of  60,000  men  can 
cover  thirty  miles  as  quickly  on  foot  as  by  train. 
It  is  often  more  useful  for  the  troops  to  spend  this 
time  in  marching.  It  thus  follows  that  railway 
transport  is  only  an  advantage  when  the  distances 
to  be  covered  are  great,  and  even  then  the  advant- 
age is  sometimes  doubtful.  If  a  line  of  advance 
is  to  be  kept  secret,  the  troops  must  march.  This 
is  proved  by  Bourbaki's  unsuccessful  expedition 
against  Southern  Alsace.  He  collected  his  army 
in  trains,  and  tried  to  bring  it  up  in  that  way  as 
far  as  the  Vosges.  All  officers  are  of  opinion  that 
if  the  troops  had  gone  on  foot,  the  German  out- 
posts of  the  small  detachments,  on  the  western 
spurs  of  the  Vosges,  would  not  have  observed 
them  soon  enough.  As  it  was,  our  Uhlan  patrols 
on  the  heights  were  able  to  report  a  noticeable 
activity  on  the  railway  lines  in  the  valley,  and 
General  Werder  thus  had  time  to  draw  in  his  men, 
and  cause  them  to  take  up  a  defensive  position. 
The  old  truth  that  very  much  depends  on  the 
marching  capacity  of  an  efficient  body  of  infantry, 
still  holds  good  in  modern  warfare. 

Our  ideas  regarding  the  importance  of  the  fort- 
ress have,  on  the  other  hand,  undergone  a  complete 
change.  The  time  has  long  vanished  when  every 
town  was  a  fortress,  and  a  long  campaign  in  a 
hostile  country  usually  ended  by  taking  the  form 
of  siege-warfare.  To-day,  the  question  is  even 


The  Army  155 

being  asked,  "Are  fortresses  any  longer  of  practical 
use?"  The  Germans  answer  this  question  far 
more  sensibly  than  the  French.  France  sur- 
rounded herself  with  a  tremendous  rampart  of 
fortresses,  reaching  from  Sedan  to  Belfort,  and 
thus  believed  herself  shut  off  from  Germany  as 
by  a  Chinese  wall.  But  in  so  long  a  line  there 
must  somewhere  be  a  weak  spot,  which  the  Ger- 
mans will  certainly  end  by  finding.  There  is, 
however,  an  even  more  important  consideration. 
Walls  cannot  defend  themselves,  and  if  they  are 
to  be  effectually  defended,  the  great  fortresses 
need  a  huge  garrison,  which  is  thus  lost  to  the 
field  army.  The  Germans  are  of  opinion  that 
small-barrier  forts  are  necessary,  and  may  be  useful 
even  to-day.  A  little  mountain  fortress  of  this 
kind,  situated  on  a  defile  can,  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances, cut  the  enemy  off  from  using  a 
whole  system  of  roads. 

The  Saxon  fortress  of  Konigstein,  for  instance, 
is  not  impregnable,  but  a  siege  of  the  place  might 
drag  on  indefinitely.  It  was  from  this  fortress 
that  a  successful  attempt  was  made  in  1866  to 
destroy  the  important  railway  from  Dresden  to 
Prague,  so  that  the  Prussians  were  unable  to  use 
it  for  a  fortnight.  The  railway  could  not  be 
repaired,  because  the  batteries  of  the  fortress 
commanded  the  line.  The  advance  of  the  Prus- 
sians into  Bohemia  was  thus  made  very  difficult. 
The  fortress  of  Bitsch,  in  the  Vosges,  plays  a  very 
similar  part.  Little  mountain  strongholds  will 


156  Treitschke 

thus  continue  to  be  of  service  for  some  time  to 
come. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  necessary  to  maintain 
the  large  strongholds  known  as  army  fortresses, 
in  order  to  have  places  of  refuge  for  a  whole  army, 
and  especially  so  that  one  may  there  shelter  and 
replenish  a  beaten  army.  Strassburg  and  Metz 
exist  for  this  purpose.  All  our  officers  agree, 
however,  that  we  must  not  have  too  many  fort- 
resses of  this  type.  Many  deny  that  they  have 
any  use  at  all,  for  decisive  actions  in  war  are 
always  fought  in  the  open  field,  and  any  military 
system  which  lessens  our  forces  in  the  field  presents 
very  serious  drawbacks.  A  fortress  of  this  kind 
needs  a  large  garrison  even  when  no  enemy  is 
in  the  neighbourhood.  We  are  always  brought 
back  to  the  fact  that  national  armies,  which  are 
so  full  of  moral  energy,  must  be  looked  upon  as 
pre-eminently  capable  of  assuming  a  vigorous 
offensive. 

I  will  conclude  by  pointing  out,  very  briefly, 
that  the  fleet  has  begun  to  assume  a  far  more 
important  position — not,  in  the  first  place,  as  an 
essential  factor  in  a  European  war,  for  no  one 
believes  now  that  a  war  between  great  Powers 
could  be  decided  by  a  naval  battle — but  as  a  pro- 
tection for  the  merchant  navy  and  the  colonies. 
The  task  of  ruling  countries  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic  will,  from  henceforth,  be  the  chief 
duty  of  European  fleets.  For,  since  the  object 
of  human  culture  must  be  to  assert  the  supremacy 


The  Army  157 

of  the  white  races  on  the  entire  globe,  the  import- 
ance of  a  people  will  finally  depend  on  the  share 
it  takes  in  the  rule  of  the  transatlantic  world.  It 
is  on  this  account  that  the  importance  of  the  fleet 
has  so  largely  increased  during  our  own  day. 


INTERNATIONAL  LAW 

IS  there  really  such  a  thing  as  international  law? 
Certainly  there  are  two  common  theories  of 
international  relations,  each  contradictory  to  the 
other,  each  quite  untenable.  One,  the  so-called 
naturalistic  theory,  dates  from  Machiavelli.  It 
is  based  on  the  notion  that  the  State  is  merely 
might  personified,  that  it  has  the  right  to  do  any- 
thing that  is  profitable  to  it.  On  this  view  the 
State  cannot  fetter  itself  by  international  law;  its 
relations  with  other  States  depend  simply  on  the 
respective  strength  which  it  and  they  possess. 
This  theory  leads  to  an  absurdity.  It  is  of  course 
true  that  the  State  implies  physical  might.  But  if 
a  State  be  that  and  nothing  else,  if  it  pay  no  heed 
to  reason  or  to  conscience,  it  will  never  maintain 
itself  in  a  proper  condition  of  safety.  Even  na- 
turalistic thinkers  allow  that  it  is  a  function  of 
the  State  to  preserve  internal  order ;  that  it  cannot 
do  if  it  refuses  to  obey  any  law  in  its  relations  with 
other  States.  Its  deliberate  contempt  for  good 
faith,  loyalty,  and  treaty  agreements  in  external 
relations  would  raise  a  crowd  of  enemies,  and  pre- 
vent it  from  fulfilling  its  purpose — the  embodi- 
ment of  physical  force.  Even  Machiavelli's  ideal, 
Caesar  Borgia,  ultimately  fell  into  the  pit  which  he 

158 


International  Law  159 

had  digged  for  others.  For  the  end  and  object 
of  the  State's  existence  is  not  physical  might;  it 
embodies  might  only  in  order  that  it  may  protect 
and  develop  the  nobler  aspects  of  mankind.  Thus 
the  doctrine  of  pure  might  is  a  vain  doctrine;  it 
is  immoral  because  it  cannot  justify  its  own 
existence. 

Directly  contrary  to  this  view  of  the  State,  is 
another — an  equally  false  view.  This  is  the 
"moral"  conception  due  to  German  liberalism. 
The  State  is  here  regarded  as  a  good  little  boy, 
to  be  washed,  brushed,  and  sent  to  school;  he  must 
have  his  ears  pulled,  to  keep  him  good,  and  in 
return  he  is  to  be  thankful,  just-minded,  and 
Heaven  knows  what  else.  This  German  doctri- 
naire theory  has  done  as  much  harm  to  our  political 
thinking  as  to  other  forms  of  German  life.  All 
our  political  sins  can  be  traced  back  to  the  notion 
— natural  enough  in  a  learned  nation — that  the 
pronouncement  of  some  scientific  truth  is  ade- 
quate to  turn  the  world's  course  into  a  new  channel. 
That  notion  underlies  the  German  spirit  of  sci- 
entific research;  it  also  underlies  our  tendency  to 
all  manner  of  practical  blunders.  The  doctri- 
naire exponent  of  international  law  fondly  imagines 
that  he  need  only  emit  a  few  aphorisms  and  that 
the  nations  of  the  world  will  forthwith,  as  reason- 
able men,  accept  them.  We  forget  that  stupidity 
and  passion  matter,  and  have  always  mattered 
in  history.  Who,  after  all,  can  fail  to  see  the 
growth  of  national  passions  during  the  nineteenth 


160  Treitschke 

century?  And  whence  do  individuals — Rotteck, 
Bluntschli,  Heffter,  and  others — say  to  States  per- 
emptorily, "Thou  shalt"?  No  single  man  stands 
high  enough  to  impose  his  doctrines  on  all  States ; 
he  must  be  ready  to  see  his  theories  crossed  or 
crushed  by  actual  life.  The  delusion  that  there 
can  be  such  a  thing  as  hypothetical  law  is  at  the 
root  of  these  errors.  Positive  law  is  the  only  law 
that  has  real  existence.  Until  the  general  public 
has  grown  convinced  of  the  truth  and  righteous- 
ness of  various  legal  principles,  the  function  of 
learned  men  is  really  limited  to  preparing  the  way. 
Were  we  to  pursue  the  abstract  conception  of  the 
State  to  its  logical  conclusion,  we  should  find 
ourselves  demanding  a  supreme  authority  with 
world-wide  power.  The  authority  would  be  such 
as  that  claimed  by  the  Papal  See,  an  authority 
not  of  this  world,  represented  by  the  Vicegerent 
of  Christ  and  ruling  in  the  name  of  God.  That  is 
the  sort  of  authority  which  we  do  not  want  on 
earth;  our  beautiful  world  should  be  a  world  of 
liberty.  Nevertheless  it  is  only  ultramontane 
thinkers  who  have  consistently  worked  out  to  its 
logical  issue  the  weak  and  sentimental  view  of 
international  law  which  we  at  this  moment  are 
considering.  That  logical  issue  has  been  rightly 
stated  in  the  great  "Codex"  of  the  Jesuits;  accord- 
ing to  it,  the  world  is,  as  it  were,  an  ethnarchy  in 
which  the  nations  form  an  ideal  community,  while 
the  Pope,  as  ethnarch,  wields  over  them  a  coercive 
power,  keeping  each  State  within  bounds  by  spiri- 


International  Law  161 

tual  warnings  and  ghostly  power.  That  is  the  one 
practical  conclusion  deducible  from  the  premise 
that  the  State  is  a  body  liable  to  external  coercion. 
No  system  of  international  law  can,  merely  be- 
cause it  has  a  scientific  basis,  restrain  a  sovereign 
State. 

So  then  these  two  extreme  views  are  both  un- 
workable in  practice.  Let  us  see  if  we  can,  in  their 
place,  set  up  a  theory  of  international  law  based 
on  historical  foundations.  First  and  before  all, 
we  must  recognize  clearly  that  we  must  not  over- 
weight our  human  nature  with  demands  which 
our  weakness  cannot  meet.  That  mistake  is 
responsible  for  the  perversion  of  many  an  idealist 
into  a  disillusioned  fanatic.  The  man  who  de- 
claims that  might  and  the  mailed  fist  alone  decide 
the  rivalry  of  nations  is  often  a  soured  fanatic 
who  in  his  youth  smoked  away  at  the  pipe  of 
peace,  discovered  that  that  was  too  good,  for  this 
poor  world,  rushed  off  to  the  other  extreme,  and 
now  declares  that  the  basis  of  all  things  is  brutality 
and  cynicism.  No  doubt,  all  great  political  think- 
ers show  a  touch  of  cynical  contempt  for  mankind, 
and  when  this  contempt  is  not  too  deep,  it  has 
its  justification.  But  it  is  only  the  man  who  does 
not  ask  the  impossible  from  human  nature  who 
can  really  awaken  the  finer  energies  which,  despite 
all  frailties  and  brutish  instincts,  lie  dormant  in 
man. 

With  this  in  mind,  we  must  set  to  work  histori- 
cally and  consider  the  State  as  it  actually  is.  It 


1 62  Treitschke 

is  physical  force ;  but  it  is  also  an  institution  aiming 
at  the  betterment  of  mankind.  In  so  far  as  it  is 
physical  force,  it  has  a  natural  tendency  to  grab 
as  many  possessions  as  may  seem  to  it  desirable. 
But  every  State  will  nevertheless  show  of  its  own 
accord  a  real  regard  for  neighbouring  States. 
Prudent  calculation  and  a  mutual  recognition  of 
advantages  will  gradually  foster  an  ever-growing 
sense  of  justice;  there  will  arise  the  consciousness 
that  each  State  is  bound  up  with  the  common  life 
of  the  States  around  it  and  that,  willingly  or  un- 
willingly, it  must  come  to  terms  with  them  as  a 
body  of  States.  This  consideration  is  prompted 
not  by  any  sort  of  philanthropy  but  by  a  literal 
sense  of  the  benefits  of  reciprocal  action.  What 
I  may  call  the  formal  part  of  international  law, 
such  as  the  rules  which  assure  the  inviolability 
of  ambassadors  and  which  regulate  the  ceremonial 
of  embassies,  was  developed  and  fixed  at  an  early 
date  in  history.  In  modern  Europe,  the  laws 
about  embassies  are  definite  and  well  determined. 
It  may  even  be  asserted  that  the  formal  side  of 
international  law  is  more  firmly  established  and 
more  seldom  broken  than  the  laws  which  govern 
the  internal  life  of  each  single  State.  Still,  the 
existence  of  international  law  is  precarious;  it  is 
a  lex  imperfecta,  because  there  is  no  higher  power 
to  control  States  as  a  whole.  All  depends  on  the 
sense  of  reciprocity  between  nations,  and  here, 
in  default  (as  already  said)  of  a  supreme  authority, 
learning  and  public  opinion  may  play  a  great  part. 


International  Law  163 

The  jurist  Savigny  declared  that  international 
law  is  perpetually  in  the  making.  He  did  not 
mean,  of  course,  that  it  has  no  real  validity.  For 
this  law  which  is  daily  growing  is  obviously  of 
practical  use  at  every  turn.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  development  of  modern  interna- 
tional law  owes  a  very  special  debt  to  Christianity, 
which  extends  beyond  the  limits  of  single  States 
towards  cosmopolitanism  in  the  noblest  sense  of 
that  term;  our  ancestors,  therefore,  were  both 
reasonable  and  logical  when  they  for  a  while 
omitted  the  Porte  from  among  the  nations  bound 
by  international  law.  They  could  not  admit  the 
Porte  so  long  as  it  was  dominated  exclusively  by 
Mahometan  standards  of  morals.  More  recently, 
Christianity  has  spread  in  the  Balkans,  Mahom- 
etanism  has  somewhat  decreased  there,  and  the 
Porte  has  been  brought  into  the  circle  of  nations 
subject  to  international  law. 

As  States  grow  from  small  to  large  and  from 
weakness  to  independence  they  necessarily  wish 
to  preserve  peace,  simply  to  ensure  their  safety 
and  to  guard  the  treasures  of  civilization  entrusted 
to  them.  Hence  grows  up  a  general  agreement  to 
obey  international  law,  yielding  an  orderly  associa- 
tion of  States,  a  political  system.  But  this  at 
once  presupposes  a  more  or  less  approximately 
level  balance  of  power  among  the  nations  concerned. 
The  notion  of  a  balance  of  power  in  Europe  was 
at  the  first  accepted  in  a  purely  mechanical  sense. 
But  it  contains  the  germ  of  a  perfectly  true  political 


1 64  Treitschke 

conception.  We  must  not  picture  it  under  the 
image  of  a  trutina  gentium,  a  weighing  machine 
of  nations,  with  both  sides  of  the  balance  equi- 
poised. It  is  enough  to  premise  that  in  any 
ordered  political  system  no  State  should  be  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  be  able  to  act  as  it  pleases  with 
impunity.  In  this  connexion  we  may  note  the 
superiority  of  present-day  Europe  over  the  im- 
mature system  of  States  in  America.  There, 
the  United  States  can  do  as  they  please,  and  it  is 
only  because  the  relations  of  the  United  States 
with  the  republics  of  South  America  are  still 
rather  slight  that  the  latter  have  as  yet  suffered 
little  direct  interference  from  their  northern 
neighbour. 

The  Russian  diplomat,  Gortshakof,  once  said, 
and  said  with  truth,  that  neither  the  nations  who 
fear  attack  nor  those  who  deem  themselves  strong 
enough  to  be  able  to  attack  whom  they  will,  will 
ever  hasten  the  completion  of  international  law. 
Actual  examples  will  convince  us  of  the  correctness 
of  this  acute  remark.  In  countries  like  Belgium 
and  Holland,  which  have — most  unfortunately 
for  the  proper  growth  of  international  law — long 
been  the  chief  centres  of  its  study,  there  has  sprung 
up  a  sentimental  conception  of  it,  begotten  no 
doubt  by  unceasing  fear  of  attack  from  outside. 
These  countries  have  fallen  into  the  custom  of 
addressing  to  the  conqueror  demands  in  the  name 
of  humanity  which  contradict  the  power  of  the 
State,  and  are  unnatural  and  unreasonable.  The 


International  Law  165 

treaties  of  peace  signed  at  Nymwegen  and  Ryswick 
in  1678-9  and  1697  show  that  then  Holland  was 
looked  on  as  the  diplomatic  cockpit  of  Europe, 
where  all  questions  of  high  politics  might  be  fought 
out.  Later  on,  this  doubtful  honour  passed  to 
Switzerland.  Nowadays,  few  people  reflect  how 
ridiculous  it  is  that  Belgium  should  pose  as  the 
home  of  international  law.  Just  as  it  is  true  that 
that  law  rests  on  a  basis  of  practical  fact,  so  true 
is  it  that  a  State  which  is  in  an  abnormal  position 
will  inevitably  form  an  abnormal  and  perverted 
conception  of  it.  Belgium  is  neutral.  And  yet 
men  think  that  it  can  give  birth  to  a  healthy 
system  of  international  law.  I  will  ask  you  to 
remember  this  when  you  are  confronted  with  the 
voluminous  literature  which  Belgian  scholars 
have  produced  on  this  subject. 

Again,  there  is  one  country  which  believes  itself 
in  a  position  to  attack  when  it  will,  and  which  is 
therefore  a  home  of  barbarism  in  all  matters  of 
international  law.  Thanks  to  England,  marine 
international  law  is  still,  in  time  of  war,  nothing 
better  than  a  system  of  privileged  piracy.  We  see, 
therefore,  that  as  international  law  rests  wholly 
on  reciprocity,  it  is  vain  to  ask  nations  to  listen 
to  empty  commonplaces  about  humanity.  Theory 
must  here  be  nailed  down  to  practice;  real  reci- 
procity and  a  real  balance  of  power  are  inseparable. 

If  we  would  further  define  the  sphere  of  inter- 
national law,  we  must  bear  well  in  mind  that  it 
must  never  trespass  on  the  existence  of  the  State. 


1 66  Treitschke 

Demands  which  drive  a  State  towards  suicide  are 
necessarily  unreasonable;  each  State  must  retain 
its  internal  sovereignty  amid  the  general  commu- 
nity of  States ;  the  preservation  of  that  sovereignty 
is  its  highest  duty  even  in  its  dealings  with  its 
neighbours.  The  only  principles  of  international 
conduct  which  are  seldom  broken  and  may  claim 
to  be  fixed  are  those  which  do  not  touch  this 
sovereignty,  those  namely  which  concern  the 
formal  and  ceremonial  rules  mentioned  above. 
To  lay  a  finger  on  the  honour  of  a  State  is  to 
contest  its  existence.  Even  to  reproach  a  State 
with  a  too  touchy  sense  of  honour  is  to  misread 
the  true  moral  laws  of  politics.  That  State  which 
will  not  be  untrue  to  itself  must  possess  an  acute 
sense  of  honour.  It  is  no  violet  to  flower  unseen. 
Its  strength  should  be  shown  signally  in  the  light 
of  open  day,  and  it  dare  not  allow  that  strength 
to  be  questioned  even  indirectly.  If  its  flag  be 
insulted,  it  must  ask  satisfaction;  if  that  satis- 
faction be  not  forthcoming,  it  must  declare  war, 
however  trifling  the  occasion  may  seem. 

It  follows  that  all  the  limitations  which  States 
lay  on  themselves  in  treaties  are  merely  voluntary ; 
all  treaties  are  concluded  with  a  mental  reservation 
— rebus  sic  stantibus — so  long  as  circumstances 
remain  unchanged.  No  State  exists,  no  State 
ever  will  exist,  which  is  willing  to  observe  the 
terms  of  any  peace  for  ever;  no  State  can  pledge 
itself  to  the  unlimited  observance  of  treaties,  for 
that  would  limit  its  sovereign  power.  No  treaty 


International  Law  167 

can  hold  good  when  the  conditions  under  which  it 
was  signed  have  wholly  changed.  This  doctrine 
has  been  declared  inhuman;  in  reality  it  will  be 
found  the  height  of  humanity.  Until  the  State 
has  realized  that  its  engagements  have  but  limited 
duration,  it  will  never  exercise  due  skill  in  treaty- 
making.  We  cannot  treat  history  as  if  we  were 
judges  in  a  civil  court  of  law.  If  we  did  that,  we 
should  have  to  say  that  Prussia,  having  signed  the 
treaty  of  Tilsit,  in  1807,  ought  not  to  have  attacked 
Napoleon  in  1813.  But  that  treaty,  like  all  others, 
was  concluded  rebus  sic  stantibus,  and,  thank  God, 
things  had  completely  changed  in  the  six  years. 
A  whole  nation  found  itself  in  a  state  to  escape 
from  intolerable  thraldom. 

Never  disregard  the  free  moral  life  of  the  nation 
as  a  whole.  No  State  in  the  wide  world  can  ven- 
ture to  relinquish  the  "ego"  of  its  sovereignty. 
If  conditions  have  been  imposed  on  it  which  cripple 
it  or  which  it  cannot  observe,  the  nation  honours 
itself  in  breaking  them.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
admirable  facts  in  history  that  a  nation  can  recover 
from  material  loss  far  sooner  than  from  the  slight- 
est insult  to  its  honour.  The  loss  of  a  province 
may  be  accepted  as  inevitable;  the  endurance  of 
what  we  deem  to  be  servitude  is  an  unending 
insult  to  a  noble-hearted  nation.  Napoleon,  by 
stationing  his  troops  on  Prussian  soil,  stirred  up 
fierce  hatred  in  the  veins  even  of  the  most  patient. 
When  a  State  has  been  wounded  in  its  honour  the 
breach  of  a  treaty  is  but  a  matter  of  time.  Eng- 


1 68  Treitschke 

land  and  France  had  to  admit  this  in  1870.  In 
their  arrogant  pride  at  the  end  of  the  Crimean 
War,  they  had  compelled  their  exhausted  enemy 
to  agree  to  remove  all  her  warships  from  the 
Black  Sea.  Russia  seized  the  opportunity  offered 
by  the  Franco-Prussian  War  to  break  the  agree- 
ment, and  she  was  fully  within  her  rights. 

If  a  State  finds  that  any  of  its  existing  treaties 
have  ceased  to  express  the  relative  strength  of 
itself  and  the  other  treaty  State,  and  if  it  cannot 
induce  the  latter  to  a  friendly  cancelment  of  the 
treaty,  then  has  come  the  moment  for  the  "legal 
proceedings"  customary  between  nations,  that 
is,  for  war.  And  in  such  circumstances  war  is  de- 
clared in  the  full  consciousness  that  the  nation  is 
doing  its  duty.  Personal  greed  plays  no  part  in 
such  an  act.  Those  who  declare  war  then  say  to 
themselves,  "Our  treaty-obligation  has  failed  to 
correspond  with  our  relative  strength  at  this 
moment;  we  cannot  come  to  friendly  terms;  we 
turn  to  the  great  assize  of  the  nations."  The 
justice  of  a  war  depends  wholly  on  the  conscious- 
ness of  its  moral  necessity.  And  since  there 
neither  can  be  nor  ought  to  be  any  external  coer- 
cive power  controlling  the  great  personages  of  a 
State,  and  since  history  must  ever  remain  in  a 
state  of  change,  war  is  in  itself  justifiable ;  it  is  an 
ordinance  of  God.  No  doubt,  a  State  may  err 
as  to  the  necessity  of  applying  this  means  of 
coercion.  Niebuhr  spoke  truly,  when  he  said 
that  war  can  establish  no  right  which  did  not 


International  Law  .169 

previously  exist.  Just  for  this  reason,  we  may 
look  upon  certain  deeds  of  violence  as  expiated 
in  the  very  act  of  being  committed — for  example, 
the  completion  of  German  or  of  Italian  unity. 
On  the  other  hand,  since  not  every  war  produces 
the  results  which  it  ought  to  produce,  the  historian 
must  now  and  again  withhold  his  judgment  and 
remember  that  the  life  of  a  State  lasts  for  centu- 
ries. The  proud  saying  of  the  conquered  Pied- 
montese,  "We  will  begin  again,"  will  always  have 
its  place  in  the  history  of  noble  nations. 

War  will  never  be  swept  from  the  earth  by 
courts  of  arbitration.  In  questions  that  touch 
the  very  life  of  a  State,  the  other  members  of  the 
community  of  States  cannot  possibly  be  impartial. 
They  must  take  sides  just  because  they  belong  to 
the  community  of  States  and  are  drawn  together 
or  forced  apart  by  the  most  diverse  interests. 
If  Germany  were  foolish  enough  to  try  to  settle 
the  question  of  Alsace-Lorraine  by  arbitration, 
what  European  Power  could  be  impartial?  You 
could  not  find  impartiality  even  in  dreamland. 
Hence  the  fact — well  known  to  us  all — that  though 
international  congresses  may  formulate  the  results 
of  a  war  and  set  them  out  in  juristic  language,  they 
can  never  avert  a  threatened  outbreak  of  hos- 
tilities. Other  States  can  be  impartial  only  in 
questions  of  third-rate  importance. 

We  have  now  agreed  that  war  is  just  and  moral, 
and  that  the  ideal  of  eternal  peace  is  both  unjust 
and  immoral,  and  impossible.  A  purely  intel- 


170  Treitschke 

lectual  life,  with  its  enervating  effect  on  the  thinker, 
may  make  men  think  otherwise;  let  us  get  rid  of 
the  undignified  attitude  of  those  who  call  possible 
what  never  can  happen.  So  long  as  human  nature, 
with  its  passions  and  its  sins,  remains  what  it  is, 
the  sword  shall  not  depart  from  the  earth.  It  is 
curious  to  see  how,  in  the  writings  of  the  pacificists, 
unconsciously  the  sense  of  national  honour  cuts 
into  the  talk  of  cosmopolitanism.  In  the  Old 
Testament  the  prophet  Joel  demanded  that  Israel 
should  win  a  bloody  battle  over  the  heathen  in 
the  valley  of  Jehosaphat;  Victor  Hugo  clamours 
in  like  manner  that  the  Germans  shall  first  get  a 
flogging  before  universal  peace  sets  in.  Again 
and  again  it  must  be  repeated  that  war,  the  violent 
form  of  the  quarrels  of  the  nations,  is  the  direct 
outcome  of  the  very  nature  of  the  State.  The 
mere  fact  that  there  are  many  States  proves,  of 
itself,  that  war  is  necessary.  Frederick  the  Great 
said  that  the  dream  of  universal  peace  is  a  phan- 
tom which  everyone  ignores  so  soon  as  it  affects 
his  own  freedom  of  action.  A  lasting  balance  of 
power,  he  adds,  is  inconceivable. 

Curiously  enough,  however,  it  is  just  in  the 
domain  of  war  that  the  triumph  of  the  human 
intellect  most  clearly  asserts  itself.  All  noble 
nations  have  felt  that  the  physical  power  un- 
chained in  war  must  be  regulated  by  laws.  The 
result  has  been  the  gradual  establishment,  by 
common  consent,  of  rules  and  customs  to  be  ob- 
served in  time  of  war.  The  greatest  successes 


International  Law  171 

of  the  science  of  international  law  have  been  won 
in  a  field  which  those  who  are  fools  look  upon  as 
barbarous — I  mean  the  domain  of  the  laws  of  war. 
Really  gross  instances  of  the  violation  of  military 
usages  are  rare  in  modern  times.  One  of  the 
finest  things  about  international  law  is  that  it  is 
perpetually  progressing  in  this  respect,  and  that 
the  universalis  consensus  alone  has  so  firmly 
planted  a  whole  series  of  principles  that  they  are 
now  well  established.  No  doubt  international 
law  will  always  lag  a  little  behind  the  civil  law, 
for  various  principles  of  justice  and  culture  must 
first  reach  maturity  within  the  State  before  any  one 
will  feel  anxious  to  find  them  a  corner  in  inter- 
national conduct.  Thus  it  was  that  no  crusade 
against  slavery  could  claim  the  support  of  inter- 
national law  till  the  general  belief  in  the  dignity 
of  man  had  become  common  in  the  nineteenth 
century. 

Another  factor  which  contributed  to  strengthen 
international  law  is  the  growing  publicity  of  public 
life.  The  days  of  the  English  Blue  Book  are  now 
past;  these  Blue,  Yellow,  and  Green  Books  were 
only  intended  to  blind  the  Philistine  with  fumes 
of  a  flattery  through  which  he  could  not  see.  A 
clever  diplomat  can  easily  hoodwink  a  parliament 
by  these  means.  But  the  whole  life  of  the  State 
is  lived  today  so  entirely  in  the  glare  of  the  foot- 
lights that  a  gross  violation  of  international  law 
at  once  arouses  real  anger  among  all  civilized 
peoples. 


172  Treitschke 

INTERNATIONAL  LAW  IN  TIME  OF  PEACE 

We  may  now  study  some  of  the  principles  affect- 
ing the  intercourse  of  nations  in  time  of  peace 
which  have  developed  into  law.  All  nations 
should  be  allowed  to  enjoy,  in  security  and  without 
distinction,  the  unifying  influences  of  commercial 
intercourse,  science,  and  art.  Ancient  peoples 
sometimes  forbade  other  nations  to  practise 
certain  industries  which  were  looked  on  as  secret 
arts.  In  the  later  Roman  Empire  it  was  forbidden 
to  imitate  barbarians  in  shipbuilding,  and  similar 
monopolist  principles  obtained  even  as  late  as  the 
days  of  the  Hansa  League.  All  that  would  be 
impossible  today.  The  State  must  take  the  risk 
of  free  competition  with  other  States,  and  that 
has  been  laid  down  in  a  whole  series  of  treaties. 

In  classical  times  it  was,  further,  the  custom  of 
almost  all  nations  to  claim  exclusive  access  to 
some  particular  sea.  Later  still,  it  has  been  held 
that  certain7  seas  which  were  not  properly  called 
oceans  belonged  to  particular  States.  The  Adri- 
atic was  the  property  of  Venice,  the  Ligurian  Sea 
of  Genoa,  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia  of  Sweden.  Today 
the  sea  is  said  to  belong  to  the  States  which  border 
on  it  only  so  far  as  it  can  be  militarily  controlled 
from  the  coast,  that  is,  within  gunshot.  But  in 
such  questions,  as  in  so  many  others,  everything 
ultimately  depends  on  the  actual  power  of  the 
States  concerned.  If  a  particular  State  can 
dominate  a  particular  sea,  no  well-meaning  the- 


International  Law  173 

orist  can  ever  make  that  sea  public.  The  Caspian 
Sea  belongs  in  name  to  two  States,  Persia  and 
Russia.  But  Russia  is  so  strong  that  the  sea  is  a 
Russian  lake.  So  again,  if  a  Power  were  to  arise 
at  Constantinople  strong  enough  to  close  the 
Bosphorus  to  all  comers,  protestations  against 
such  an  act  would  be  merely  laughed  at.  Apart 
from  this,  the  sea  must  be  regarded  as  open  to 
all  ships  flying  a  recognized  flag.  The  high  seas 
are  policed  by  the  navies  of  all  nations,  and  every 
man-of-war  has  the  right  to  stop  a  merchantman 
and  examine  its  papers.  This  is  the  result  of  a 
long  and  intricate  development.  All  nations  are 
now  agreed  that  occasional  inconveniences  suffered 
by  their  merchant  ships  are  a  far  lesser  evil  than 
piracy. 

All  international  rights  are  safeguarded  by 
treaties.  These  treaties  differ  in  many  details 
from  compacts  made  under  the  civil  law.  In  the 
first  place  they  depend  on  good  faith  on  both 
sides,  since  there  is  no  tribunal  to  compel  either 
side  to  observe  them.  The  ancient  Athenians 
were  therefore  obeying  a  right  instinct  when  they 
decided  to  limit  the  time  during  which  their 
treaties  with  other  nations  held  good.  Christian 
nations  have  tended  rather  to  regard  treaties  as 
eternally  binding,  but  their  real  attitude  is  that 
they  are  willing  to  observe  the  treaty  so  long  as 
the  relative  strength  of  the  States  involved  does 
not  seriously  change.  The  more  clearly  this 
truth  is  proclaimed,  and  the  more  dispassionately 


174  Treitschke 

it  is  regarded,  the  safer  will  be  the  treaties  made ; 
States  will  not  conclude  agreements  which  the 
other  party  is  likely  to  break. 

There  are  other  treaties  which  are  made  under 
compulsion.  Such  compacts  are  not  made  in 
time  of  peace ;  if  Switzerland  be  unwilling  in  peace 
time  to  enter  into  a  treaty  with  Germany,  she  is 
free  to  refuse.  But  after  wars  the  victor  imposes 
a  compulsory  peace  on  the  conquered.  Here 
again  we  seek  in  vain  for  the  external  judge  who 
can  say  with  authority,  "This  treaty  is  compul- 
sory." 

It  does  not  appear  that  there  can  be  any  limit 
of  time  implied  in  agreements  under  international 
law.  Limits  are  imposed  on  the  duration  of 
certain  legal  liabilities  under  the  ordinary  law; 
for  example,  thefts  might  cease  to  be  actionable 
after  twenty  years.  But  this  is  really  a  juristic 
makeshift.  The  framer  of  the  law  has  author- 
ized a  legal  fiction  on  practical  grounds.  It  is 
not  thought  worth  while  to  pursue  a  trifling  offence 
after  the  lapse  of  a  long  period.  But  that  can- 
not be  done  in  international  law.  The  lives  of 
States  last  for  centuries.  One  would  have  to 
wait  for  years  for  the  expiry  of  the  time-limits  of 
nations.  Frederick  the  Great  had  a  perfect  right 
to  claim  Silesia  as  part  of  his  kingdom,  though  the 
treaties  which  secured  it  to  his  family  were  over 
two  hundred  years  old. 

Much  progress  has  been  effected  of  late  years 
in  the  way  of  better  drafting,  and  also  of  more 


International  Law  175 

distinct  ratification,  of  international  treaties,  as 
well  as  in  lucidity  of  wording.  As  a  rule,  such 
treaties  ought  not  to  contain  secret  clauses.  They 
merely  obscure  the  true  state  of  affairs ;  they  bring 
it  about  that  States  which  are  unaware  of  them 
form  false  ideas  of  their  mutual  obligations,  and 
thus  they  may  easily  prove  dangerous  to  the  very 
State  which  made  them.  Governments  used  to 
imagine  that  secret  clauses  would  trip  up  other 
governments ;  obviously  they  are  actually  a  double- 
edged  weapon.  There  are,  of  course,  exceptions 
even  to  this.  In  1866,  when  Prussia  made  peace 
with  the  conquered  States  of  Southern  Germany, 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance  between  them  was 
concluded  in  a  series  of  secret  treaties.  There  was 
good  reason  for  this.  When  France,  a  year  later, 
revealed  her  leanings  towards  war,  it  was  then 
publicly  announced  that  North  and  South  Ger- 
many would  act  together. 

The  sphere  in  which  the  principles  of  interna- 
tional relations  can  be  most  definitely  laid  down 
is  that  of  private  international  law,  the  law  which 
governs  the  behaviour  of  any  State  towards  indi- 
vidual foreigners.  It  is  a  great  step  forward 
that,  in  any  cultured  State  today,  a  foreign  private 
person  is  sure  of  the  protection  of  the  law.  It  is 
a  crime  against  the  human  race  to  urge  the  view 
that  force  alone  governs  international  law  today. 
That  view  is  wholly  untrue.  Only — we  must  not 
expect  the  impossible.  The  difficulty  of  the 
question  becomes  apparent  as  soon  as  one  looks 


176  Treitschke 

into  its  details.  One  then  realizes  that  all  obli- 
gations of  private  as  of  other  international  law 
are  entered  into  and  kept  with  a  certain  reserva- 
tion, that,  namely,  they  cannot  be  fulfilled  when 
they  entail  grave  hurt  to  the  State  which  promised 
to  carry  them  out.  However  many  treaties  we 
may  conclude  in  the  domain  of  private  interna- 
tional law,  it  is  always  implied  that  we  shall  not 
keep  them  if  a  foreigner  becomes  obnoxious  to  us. 
A  State  must  be  able  to  expel  inconvenient  for- 
eigners, without  declaring  its  reasons,  even  though 
it  has  signed  a  treaty  permitting  foreigners  to 
reside  within  its  borders.  Thus,  modern  States 
habitually  expel  persons  suspected  of  being  spies 
or  secret  agents;  if  explanations  had  to  be  pub- 
lished before  active  steps  were  taken  in  such  cases, 
those  explanations  would  be  mostly  of  an  exceed- 
ingly unpleasant  kind,  and  would  merely  imperil 
the  friendly  relations  of  the  States  concerned.  It 
is,  therefore,  more  sensible  to  take  the  line  that 
any  alien  can  be  expelled  at  any  moment,  with  the 
simple  comment:  You  are  undesirable.  And  the 
right  to  act  thus  must  be  firmly  maintained,  if 
only  in  the  interest  of  honest  men,  who  might 
otherwise  be  molested;  this  proceeding,  which 
appears  cruel  on  the  surface,  proves  in  reality  to 
be  the  truest  humanity.  On  the  other  hand, 
States  must  not  claim  the  right  to  expel  their  own 
subjects.  That  is  to  claim  something  which  is 
essentially  illegitimate.  When  Germany  expelled 
the  Jesuits,  we  were  at  least  sure  that  they  would 


International  Law  177 

find  a  roof  elsewhere.  But  if  Germany  were  to 
expel  its  own  common  criminals,  it  would  be  simply 
blowing  them  into  the  air,  for  no  other  State  would 
be  willing  to  receive  them. 

Wherever  international  law  relating  to  private 
individuals  has  begun  to  grow  up,  mutual  un- 
dertakings are  soon  given  between  the  various 
States  to  assist  one  another  in  the  apprehension  of 
criminals.  Here  we  reach  some  of  the  hardest 
problems  of  international  law.  It  is  easy  enough 
to  assert  generally  that  mankind  as  a  whole  is 
bound  to  pursue  criminals.  That  is  recognized 
by  all  noble  nations  and  is  easily  embodied  in 
their  laws.  But  how  are  we  to  draw  the  line 
between  what  is  criminal  and  what  is  not?  To 
begin  with,  it  is  eminently  necessary  to  distinguish 
political  and  common  offenders.  Every  State 
must  consider  its  own  interests  before  it  takes 
action  against  traitors  against  some  other  State. 
There  may  exist  between  two  countries,  nominally 
at  peace,  a  latent  state  of  war,  as  is  now  the  case 
between  France  and  Germany.  In  such  a  case 
it  may  well  happen  that  the  man  who  is  a  political 
offender  against  the  laws  of  his  own  country  is 
also  very  welcome  to  the  other  country;  it  would 
be  silly  if  the  latter  were  to  be  forced  to  hand  him 
over  to  his  own  government.  Treaties  regulating 
the  extradition  of  common  malefactors  are  easily 
made;  but  no  State  will  pledge  itself  to  deliver 
up  all  political  offenders  without  the  option  of 
using  its  own  judgment  in  particular  cases.  Un- 


178  Treitschke 

derstandings,  again,  might  be  effected  as  to  anar- 
chists, pure  and  simple,  who  work  with  dynamite; 
but  about  political  offenders,  as  a  class,  no  general 
treaty  can  be  drawn. 

With  respect  to  common  criminals,  the  limits 
of  extradition  must,  of  course,  be  settled  by  special 
agreements.  Such  agreements  must,  of  course, 
apply  only  to  really  grievous  offences.  The  ju- 
dicial codes  of  various  lands  vary  so  much  that 
it  is  emphatically  desirable  that  as  many  crimes 
as  possible  should  be  judged  at  home.  Experi- 
ence has  here  shown  that  the  farther  the  juris- 
diction of  a  nation  is  extended,  the  better  the 
result. 

All  this  general  movement  towards  securing 
justice  naturally  tends  to  an  ordered  union  be- 
tween the  States  concerned,  that  is,  to  a  political 
system  in  which  the  use  of  fixed  forms  of  action 
is  accepted  even  in  international  matters.  The 
quarrels  of  seventeenth-century  Europe  on  matters 
of  ceremonial,  which  now  strike  us  as  so  absurd, 
had  a  sound  basis,  despite  the  ridiculous  forms 
which  they  assumed.  They  showed  that  the 
States  of  Europe  had  begun  to  regard  themselves 
as  members  of  one  family.  In  a  well-ordered 
household,  everyone  must  have  his  fixed  place, 
and  his  individual  rights  must  be  recognized  and 
maintained.  The  difference  between  empires  and 
small  States,  between  great  Powers  and  States  of 
the  second  or  third  rank,  still  exists  from  a  practi- 
cal point  of  view,  though  no  documents  specifically 


International  Law  179 

record  it.  A  great  Power  may  be  defined  as  a  State 
which  could  not,  in  the  given  circumstances,  be 
destroyed  by  any  one  other  Power,  but  only  by  a 
coalition.  The  preponderance  of  the  great  Powers 
in  Europe  has  lately  become  very  marked,  and  it 
is  to  this  that  we  owe  a  certain  security  now  ob- 
servable in  our  international  relations.  The  law 
affecting  embassies  had  been  so  firmly  established 
since  the  Congress  of  Aachen  in  1818,  that  the 
clearest  lines  have  been  drawn  in  all  civilized 
States  between  the  different  classes  of  diplomatists. 
Through  the  dominance  of  the  leading  European 
Powers,  the  practice — indeed  the  rule — has  grown 
up  that  representation  at  a  Congress  of  great 
Powers  is  granted  only  to  those  among  the  lesser 
States  which  are  directly  concerned  in  the  subject 
to  be  discussed.  But  when  once  a  small  State 
has  been  invited  to  the  Congress,  its  voice  carries 
as  much  weight  as  that  of  any  other  State,  large 
or  small.  These  Congresses  are  governed,  not  by 
a  vote  of  the  majority,  but  by  the  liberum  veto 
of  natural  law.  A  meeting  which  is  held,  not  to 
conduct  a  war  but  to  formulate  its  results,  cannot 
reasonably  be  bound  by  majority  votes;  it  must 
obtain  unanimity. 

It  appears  impossible  to  set  up  any  general 
principle  governing  international  behaviour.  The 
doctrine  that  you  may  always  intervene  in  the 
affairs  of  another  State  is  as  false  as  the  doctrine 
that  you  may  never  do  so.  A  State  may  find  itself 
driven  to  regard  the  party  struggles  in  a  neigh- 


i8o  Treitschke 

bouring  country  as  harmful  to  its  own  peace. 
Were  a  cosmopolitan  party  to  seize  the  reins  in  a 
State  which  bordered  with  Germany,  the  issue 
might  look  so  threatening  to  us  that  we  should 
have  no  option  but  to  interfere.  To  interfere, 
however,  involves  considerable  risk.  The  modern 
world  has  come  to  believe  firmly  in  the  doctrine 
of  national  independence,  and  intervention  will 
always  arouse  resentment,  and  that  not  only  in 
the  country  which  suffers  the  intervention.  Hard 
experience  has  taught  this  generation  to  be  shy 
of  mixing  in  the  internal  affairs  of  its  neighbours. 
But  when  a  State's  existence  seems  to  itself  to  be 
in  peril,  it  both  may  and  will  intervene. 

IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

The  acceptance  by  States  of  common  rules  for 
mutual  relations,  even  in  an  age  when  physical 
force  tears  up  treaties,  shows  that  a  law  governs 
their  conduct,  but  a  defective  and  immature  law. 
A  state  of  war  is  usually  preceded  by  a  hostile 
peace.  Vain  efforts  at  mutual  understanding  lead, 
in  the  first  instance,  to  one  of  the  States  passing 
laws  detrimental  to  the  other.  That  is  legal 
enough,  if  it  is  not  fair,  and  the  other  State  will 
straightway  retaliate  by  a  similar  lack  of  considera- 
tion for  its  neighbour.  If  one  of  the  States  trespass 
on  an  actual  treaty  right,  the  sufferer  replies  by 
equally  conscious  illegalities.  Preludes  of  these 
kinds  lead  finally  to  real  war.  As  soon  as  hostili- 


International  Law  181 

ties  have  actually  begun,  all  treaties  between  the 
two  States  come,  legally,  to  an  end.  A  formal 
declaration  of  war  is  no  longer  needful  in  these 
days  of  railways  and  telegraphs.  Mobilizations 
of  troops  and  discussions  in  cabinets  and  parlia- 
ments give  clear  warning  that  the  State  intends  to 
open  hostilities ;  the  declaration  is  an  empty  form. 
In  the  war  of  1870,  France  did  not  send  us  any 
declaration  of  war  till  a  week  after  diplomatic  re- 
lations had  been  broken  off. 

After  the  outbreak  of  war,  the  primary  object 
seems  to  be  to  bring  about  new  international 
conditions  which  shall  correspond  to  the  real 
strength  of  the  warring  States,  and  which  they 
must  recognize.  It  is  then  legitimate  to  carry  on 
the  war  in  the  most  drastic  manner;  the  ultimate 
aim — peace — will  thus  be  attained  as  speedily  as 
possible.  First,  therefore,  pierce  the  enemy  to  the 
heart.  The  very  sharpest  weapons  may  be  used, 
provided  that  they  do  not  inflict  on  the  wounded 
needless  torments.  Philanthropists  may  declaim 
about  burning  shells  which  fall  into  the  powder 
magazines  of  wooden  warships;  that  is  all  beside 
the  point.  The  States  themselves  must  settle 
what  weapons  shall  not  be  used;  at  the  request  of 
Russia  it  has  been  agreed  not  to  use  explosive 
bullets  for  rifles.  A  warring  nation  is  wholly 
justified  in  taking  every  advantage  of  every  weak- 
ness in  its  opponent.  If  its  enemy  is  disturbed 
by  internal  revolts  and  conspiracies,  it  may  make 
full  use  of  them;  in  1866,  it  was  only  the  swift 


1 82  Treitschke 

march  of  events  that  prevented  us  Prussians  from 
entering  into  agreements  with  the  Hungarians 
against  their  Austrian  masters. 

A  warring  nation  may  call  to  its  fighting  line 
the  whole  of  its  troops — whether  barbarian  or 
civilized.  On  this  point  we  must  keep  an  open 
mind  and  avoid  prejudice  against  any  particular 
nation.  There  were  howls  in  Germany  during  the 
Franco-Prussian  war  because  the  French  set  the 
Turcos  to  fight  a  highly  civilized  European  people. 
The  passions  of  war  readily  breed  such  protests, 
but  science  must  take  a  dispassionate  view  and 
declare  that  action  such  as  that  of  the  French 
was  not  contrary  to  international  law.  A  bel- 
ligerent State  both  may  and  ought  to  bring  into 
the  field  all  its  physical  resources,  that  is,  all  its 
troops  of  every  kind.  For  where  can  a  line  be 
drawn?  Which  of  all  its  charming  subject-races 
should  Russia,  for  example,  rule  out  of  court?  The 
entire  physical  resources  of  the  State  can,  and 
must,  be  used  in  war.  But  they  must  only  be  used 
when  they  have  been  embodied  in  those  chivalrous 
forms  of  organization  which  have  been  gradually 
established  during  a  long  series  of  wars.  The  use 
of  the  Turcos  by  the  French  put  a  curious  com- 
plexion on  their  claim  to  march  at  the  head  of 
civilization.  Indeed,  many  of  the  complaints 
made  in  this  respect  arise  from  the  fact  that 
people  demand  from  a  nation  more  than  it  is  able 
to  fulfil.  We  all  know  that  in  modern  national 
warfare  every  gallant  subject  is  a  spy.  The  expul- 


International  Law  183 

sion  of  the  80,000  Germans  from  France  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Franco-Prussian  war  in  1870  was, 
therefore,  in  accordance  with  international  law; 
the  one  point  to  which  we  can  object  in  the  whole 
proceeding  is,  that  the  French  displayed  a  certain 
brutality  in  dealing  with  these  Germans. 

The  degree  of  humanity  to  be  observed  in  war- 
fare is  affected  by  the  doctrine  that  a  war  can 
only  be  waged  between  two  States,  and  not  be- 
tween individual  members  of  those  States.  This 
doctrine  regulates  all  warfare  in  theory,  though  in 
practice  only  that  on  land.  It  should  be  possible 
to  recognize,  by  a  distinguishing  mark,  all  men 
whom  the  State  authorizes  to  wage  war  for  it,  and 
who  must,  therefore,  be  treated  as  soldiers.  We 
are  not,  as  yet,  all  agreed  on  this  point,  and  this 
failure  to  agree  constitutes  a  grievous  gap  in 
international  law.  Humanity  in  war  is  entirely 
dependent  on  the  question  as  to  whether  the 
soldier  feels  that  his  only  opponent  is  the  enemy's 
soldier,  and  that  he  need  not  fear  an  attack  behind 
a  bush  from  every  peasant,  with  whom  he  has 
had  peaceful  dealings  half  an  hour  earlier.  If  the 
soldier,  journeying  through  a  hostile  country,  does 
not  know  whom  to  regard  as  soldier,  and  whom 
to  look  upon  as  robber  and  highwayman,  he  is 
driven  to  show  himself  cruel  and  heartless.  No 
one  can  be  regarded  as  a  soldier  unless  he  has 
taken  the  military  oath,  unless  he  is  subject  to 
military  law,  and  unless  he  wears  some  distinctive 
token,  even  if  it  be  not  (strictly  speaking)  a  com- 


1 84  Treitschke 

plete  uniform.  It  is  a  self-evident  fact  that  bands 
of  unauthorized  volunteers  must  expect  to  meet 
with  harsh  and  ruthless  treatment.  It  is  impera- 
tive that  we  should  come  to  some  sort  of  inter- 
national agreement  as  to  the  tokens  whereby  one 
may  know  an  armed  man  to  be  an  actual  member 
of  an  authorized  army.  This  point  was  discussed 
at  Brussels,  in  1874,  and  there  the  conflicting 
interests  of  the  different  parties  were  thrown  into 
high  relief.  Little  States,  like  Switzerland,  were 
in  no  way  anxious  to  bind  themselves  on  such  a 
question. 

Each  State  is,  at  present,  its  own  judge  in  the 
matter,  and  must  itself  determine  which  of  its 
enemies  it  proposes  to  treat  as  units  of  an  army* 
and  which  as  simple  robbers.  Regarded  from  a 
moral  point  of  view,  a  real  respect  is  due  to  the 
action  of  many  franc-tireurs  in  1870  and  1871, 
whom  despair  drove  to  try  to  save  their  country. 
But  in  the  light  of  international  law,  they  were 
mere  highwaymen.  In  the  same  way,  Napoleon 
was  right  in  1809  to  treat  Schill  and  his  associates 
as  robbers.  Schill,  a  Prussian  staff  officer,  him- 
self deserted,  and  induced  his  men  to  desert,  and 
then  began  to  wage  war  against  France.  He  was 
then,  according  to  international  law,  nothing  more 
than  a  robber  chief.  The  King's  anger  at  this 
proceeding  knew  no  bounds.  What  was  there 
left  to  hold  the  State  together,  if  every  staff  officer 
chose  to  form  a  little  army  of  his  own?  But,  in 
spite  of  these  facts,  Napoleon's  resolve  to  adhere  to 


International  Law  185 

the  letter  of  the  law  in  this  affair  was  an  act  of 
unparalleled  cruelty,  and  also  an  act  of  great 
imprudence.  Everyone  with  noble  instincts  will 
side  with  Schill.  Schenkendorf  felt  this  when  he 
represented  Schill  as  saying : 

"My  King  himself  will  say  to  me, 

'  Rest  thou  in  peace,  my  faithful  Schill. ' " 

It  would,  however,  be  impossible  to  maintain  that 
the  enemy's  action  was  any  infringement  of  in- 
ternational law. 

When  it  has  once  been  determined  who  belongs 
to  the  army,  and  who  is  entitled  to  the  chivalrous 
treatment  due  to  a  prisoner  of  war,  private  prop- 
erty belonging  to  an  enemy  may  be  very  generally 
spared.  But  in  this  matter,  also,  it  must  be  clearly 
understood  that  we  must  not,  in  the  name  of 
humanity,  outrage  the  sense  of  honour  of  a  nation. 
At  the  Congress  held  at  Brussels,  the  Prussians 
proposed  an  international  agreement  that  in  a 
conquered  province  the  civil  government  should 
pass  ipso  jure  into  the  hands  of  the  military  au- 
thorities of  the  victorious  army.  Such  an  arrange- 
ment would,  in  many  ways,  prove  beneficial  to 
material  well-being.  A  general  who  knows  that 
he  is  entitled,  by  international  law,  to  demand 
obedience  from  foreign  authorities,  will  be  able  to 
keep  a  more  decided  check  on  his  troops,  and  to 
behave  generally  in  a  more  humane  manner.  But 
there  are  possessions  which  stand  on  -a  higher 


186  Treitschke 

level  than  trade  and  traffic.  This  German  demand 
expressed  all  the  confidence  of  a  people  accustomed 
to  victory.  But  could  we  seriously  wish  that 
Prussian  State  authorities  should,  by  law,  be 
compelled  to  obey  a  Russian  general?  Exces- 
sive humanity  can  lead  to  dishonour,  and  thus 
become  inhuman.  We  expect  our  countrymen  to 
use  all  lawful  means  to  defeat  the  enemy.  Think 
for  a  moment  of  our  own  past  experiences.  Every 
East-Prussian  knows  about  President  Dohna,  who 
during  the  Russian  occupation  carried  off  the 
receipts  and  taxes  to  the  lawful  king,  and  did  his 
best  to  work  against  the  enemy.  Shall  that  be 
forbidden  in  the  name  of  philanthropy?  Is  not 
patriotism,  in  this  case,  a  higher  duty?  It 
matters  little  whether  a  Russian,  embittered  by 
this  kind  of  resistance  on  the  part  of  good  and 
honest  Prussians,  burns  a  few  more  villages  than 
he  at  first  purposed.  This  is  a  consideration  of 
far  less  importance  than  that  a  nation  should  keep 
the  shield  of  its  honour  bright.  The  moral  posses- 
sions of  a  nation  ought  not  to  be  destroyed,  in  the 
name  of  humanity,  by  international  law. 

Even  when  the  power  of  an  enemy  is  purely 
military,  it  is  still  possible  to  give  the  utmost 
protection  to  private  property,  provided  that  the 
members  of  the  hostile  army  are  easily  recognizable. 
Requisitions  are  allowed;  it  is  a  general  practice 
to  give  promissory  notes  in  exchange.  The  task 
of  getting  them  all  paid  is,  of  course,  left  to  the 
conquered.  War  against  private  property  as  such, 


International  Law  187 

of  which  the  laying  waste  of  the  Palatinate  at  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  by  Melac,  fur- 
nishes us  with  a  dreadful  example,  the  wanton 
burning  of  villages,  is  regarded  today  by  all 
civilized  States  as  an  infringement  of  the  law  of 
nations.  Private  property  may  only  be  injured 
in  so  far  as  such  injury  is  absolutely  essential  to 
the  success  of  the  war. 

But  international  law  becomes  mere  claptrap 
when  these  principles  are  applied  to  barbarian 
nations.  A  negro  tribe  must  be  punished  by 
having  its  villages  burnt ;  nothing  will  be  achieved 
without  an  example  of  this  kind.  Any  failure  on 
the  part  of  the  German  Empire  to  base  its  conduct 
on  these  principles,  today,  could  not  be  said  to 
proceed  from  humanity  or  a  fine  sense  of  justice, 
but  merely  from  scandalous  weakness. T 

And  even  where  dealing  with  civilized  nations, 
it  is  right  to  legalize  only  those  practices  which  are 
the  real  outcome  of  the  general  sense  of  obligation, 
common  to  all  the  nations  concerned.  The  State 
must  not  be  used  as  an  instrument  wherewith  to 
try  experiments  in  humanitarianism.  How  drastic 
an  example  of  such  an  error  is  furnished  by  the 
Franco-Prussian  War!  We  declared,  in  a  burst  of 
false  humanity,  that  we  would  respect  the  private 
property  of  the  French  at  sea.  The  idea  was  both 
noble  and  humane.  We  failed,  however,  to  observe 
that  among  the  other  States  there  is  one — I  mean 
England — which  is  fundamentally  averse  to  being 

1  Lecture  delivered  during  the  winter  of  1891-2. 


1 88  Treitschke 

schooled  by  noble  thoughts;  we  also  failed  to 
realize  that  France  would  not  pay  us  back  in  our 
own  coin.  This  one-sided  German  humanitarian- 
ism  simply  released  France  from  the  necessity  of 
using  her  navy  to  protect  her  merchant  ships 
against  German  men-of-war.  Her  whole  fleet  was 
thus  set  free  for  the  immediate  purposes  of  war. 
The  marine  infantry  and  the  really  excellent 
marine  artillery  were  landed,  and  during  the 
winter  we  very  frequently  found  ourselves  right- 
ing with  these  marines.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
the  undertaking  entered  upon  by  us  merely  re- 
leased troops  to  be  used  against  ourselves.  Every 
advance  in  humanitarianism,  as  expressed  in  inter- 
national law  should,  therefore,  be  based  on  the 
principle  of  reciprocity. 

But  there  are  many  items  about  which  we  are 
in  doubt  whether  they  are  the  property  of  the 
State  or  of  private  persons.  The  property  of  the 
State  is,  obviously  and  naturally,  the  lawful  booty 
of  the  victor.  This  is  primarily  true  of  all  kinds 
of  military  supplies,  in  the  widest  sense  of  the 
word,  and  of  such  things  as  State  railways.  But 
to  which  class  must  we  relegate  the  rolling  stock 
of  the  private  railway  companies,  to  which  the 
State  has  granted  an  actual  monopoly?  The 
enemy  may,  of  course,  use  the  railway  plant  be- 
longing to  these  companies  during  the  war;  but 
may  he  keep  the  carriages  and  trucks?  Our  de- 
cision to  do  so  during  the  last  war  was  a  perfectly 
just  one,  in  view  of  the  nature  of  the  French  rail- 


International  Law  189 

ways.  They  were,  in  actual  fact,  the  property  of 
the  State,  and  we  kept  the  carriages  which  we 
took,  and  sold  them  back  to  France  when  terms 
of  peace  were  arranged.  The  question  is  an  even 
more  difficult  one  when  it  relates  to  banks.  There 
are  certain  banks,  among  them  the  Bank  of  Ger- 
many, in  which  a  body  of  bankers  outside  the 
country  have  a  material  interest.  Such  a  practice 
is  very  useful  from  a  commercial  point  of  view; 
the  bank  is  thus  kept  in  touch  with  the  great 
business  houses,  and  in  a  position  to  take  its  part 
in  the  commercial  activities  of  the  moment.  It 
would  be,  however,  a  pure  illusion  to  suppose  that 
the  Bank  of  Germany  would  thereby  be  saved 
from  confiscation  by  a  conqueror.  An  enemy 
would  certainly  look  upon  it  as  a  State  bank,  and 
the  fact  that  a  few  private  persons  had  an  interest 
in  it  would  in  no  way  affect  his  decision. 

It  has  also  become  a  principle  of  international 
law  that  the  great  treasures  of  civilization,  which 
serve  the  purposes  of  Art  and  Science,  and  are 
looked  upon  as  the  property  of  humanity  as  a 
whole,  shall  be  secured  against  theft  and  pillage. 
In  earlier  times  this  principle  was  trampled  under 
foot. 

Individual  members  of  the  standing  armies,  and 
all  persons  authorized  to  take  part  in  national 
defence,  have  a  right  to  demand  honourable  treat- 
ment as  prisoners  of  war,  and  all  attempts  to  force 
prisoners  into  the  enemy's  army  are  contrary  to 
international  law.  It  is,  however,  doubtful 


190  Treitschke 

whether  this  principle  obtained  during  the  last 
century.  In  matters  such  as  these,  everything 
depends  on  the  sense  of  right  and  wrong  which 
animates  the  age.  At  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century,  the  mercenary  idea  was  still  so  grossly 
prevalent  that  a  French  regiment,  consisting  of 
course  of  Germans,  was  taken  over  by  the  Saxons 
at  Hochstadt,  only  to  be  lost  by  them  at  a  later 
date,  when  it  went  over  to  the  Swedes.  At  Stral- 
sund,  it  went  over  to  the  Prussians,  with  whom  it 
finally  remained,  under  the  name  of  "Jung  An- 
halt. "  But  when  Frederick  the  Great  forced  the 
captured  Saxons  into  the  Prussian  army,  at  Piena, 
it  became  evident  that  a  practice  which  had  once 
been  followed  as  a  matter  of  course,  had  now  be- 
come impossible.  On  that  occasion,  the  Saxons 
deserted  from  the  Prussian  army  in  hordes. 
Nowadays,  an  attempt  of  this  kind  would  be  not 
only  a  palpable  infringement  of  international  law, 
but  also  an  unparalleled  piece  of  stupidity. 

It  goes  without  saying  that  every  State  has  not 
only  the  right  to  wage  war,  but  also  to  declare 
itself  neutral  in  the  wars  of  others  as  far  as  material 
conditions  permit.  If  a  State  is  not  in  a  condition 
to  maintain  its  neutrality,  all  talk  about  the  same 
is  mere  claptrap.  Neutrality  needs  as  much  de- 
fending as  the  partisanship  of  belligerent  States. 
It  is  the  duty  of  a  neutral  State  to  disarm  every 
soldier  who  crosses  its  borders.  If  it  is  unable 
to  do  so,  the  circumstances  justify  the  belliger- 
ent States  in  ceasing  to  observe  its  neutrality, 


f  International  Law  191 

even  if  it  has  allowed  an  armed  enemy  to  enter 
but  one  village. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  sharp  distinction  is 
still  drawn  in  military  law  between  its  workings  on 
land  and  its  workings  at  sea.  All  who  have  eyes  to 
see  must  here  be  struck  by  the  disastrous  influence 
of  English  naval  power  on  universal  culture  and 
justice.  We  have  not  as  yet  obtained  a  "balance 
of  power"  at  sea,  and  Schiller's  melancholy  dictum, 
therefore,  still  holds  good : 

"Among  the  waves  is  chaos 
And  nothing  can  be  held  upon  the  sea. " 

Such  a  state  of  things  is  deeply  humiliating  to  our 
pride  as  a  civilized  nation.  England  is  alone  to 
blame,  for  England  is  so  immensely  pre-eminent  at 
sea  that  she  can  do  whatever  she  likes.  All  who 
desire  to  be  humane,  all  who  thirst  to  realize  in 
some  degree  the  ideals  of  international  law  on  the 
high  seas,  must  work  for  a  balance  of  power  in  this 
direction  also.  One  is  constantly  surprised  by  the 
infatuation  of  public  opinion  at  the  present  day. 
Countries  marching  on  the  wrong  road  are  always 
glorified,  and  the  sentimentality  of  Belgian  ex- 
ponents of  international  law,  and  England's 
barbarous  views  regarding  maritime  law,  are 
perpetually  admired.  All  the  other  Powers  would 
be  prepared  and  allow  free  circulation,  under 
certain  conditions,  to  merchant  ships  in  time  of 
war;  England,  alone,  maintains  the  principle  that 


192  Treitschke 

no  distinction  is  to  be  made  at  sea  between  the 
property  of  the  State  and  that  of  private  persons. 
And  as  long  as  this  one  Power  insists  on  carrying 
out  this  principle,  all  other  nations  must  travel  on 
the  same  barbarous  road.  It  is  true  that  the  con- 
ditions prevalent  on  land  can  never  prevail  in 
quite  the  same  way  at  sea,  because  there  are  many 
articles  of  commerce  which  are  used  in  warfare. 
The  immunity  of  private  property  at  sea  in  time 
of  war  can,  therefore,  never  be  quite  as  great  as 
that  assured  to  private  property  on  land ;  but  this 
is  no  reason  why  naval  warfare  should  for  ever 
continue  to  be  piracy,  or  why  the  belligerent 
Powers  should  be  entitled  to  snatch  indiscrimi- 
nately the  property  of  each  other's  merchants. 

Maritime  law  has  hitherto  only  progressed 
through  the  efforts  of  the  navies  of  second-class 
Powers.  One  is  confronted  at  every  moment  with 
the  dictum  that  the  Powers  are  driven  to  adopt 
humaner  methods  by  their  desire  to  serve  their 
own  purposes.  Herein,  also,  lies  the  explanation  of 
the  efforts  made  by  the  second-class  navies  to 
obtain  a  humaner  maritime  law.  It  is  not  that 
the  English  are  worse  people  than  we  are,  and  if 
we  were  in  their  position  we  might,  perhaps,  imi- 
tate their  conduct.  As  early  as  1780  the  navies 
of  the  second  rank  united  themselves  in  an  alliance 
for  armed  neutrality,  and  laid  down  the  principle, 
firstly,  that  the  flag  must  protect  the  merchandise 
over  which  it  floats,  and  that  articles  of  commerce 
having  no  definite  connection  with  war  shall  be 


International  Law  193 

allowed  free  passage  on  a  neutral  ship;  and,  second- 
ly, that  every  blockade  must  be  an  actual  one,  and 
that  no  Power  has  the  right  to  declare  an  entire 
line  of  coast  blockaded  unless  the  approaches  to 
it  are  actually  closed  by  the  presence  of  hostile 
men-of-war. 

Attempts  were  subsequently  made  in  innumer- 
able treaties  to  express  these  principles  in  law. 
To-day,  England  has  at  last  agreed  to  allow  that 
the  flag  covers  the  merchandise.  This  concession 
is  the  outcome  of  the  development  of  North 
American  naval  power.  If  the  question  had  been 
one  for  Germany  to  decide,  she  would  long  ago 
have  procured  some  international  agreement  on 
the  immunity  of  private  property  at  sea.  Theory, 
alone  is,  however,  powerless  in  questions  of  inter- 
national law,  if  the  actual  power  of  the  States 
concerned  does  not  in  some  measure  correspond 
with  it. 

To  conclude  then,  the  conviction  grows  upon  us 
that  it  can  never  be  the  task  of  political  science  to 
build  up  for  itself  phantastic  structure  in  the  air; 
for  only  that  is  truly  human  which  has  its  roots 
in  the  historical  facts  of  actual  life.  The  destinies 
of  nations  are  worked  out  by  means  of  a  series  of 
repulsions  and  attractions,  and  they  follow  the 
law  of  a  principle  of  development  whose  ultimate 
end  is  veiled  from  mortal  eyes.  Its  very  trend  is 
hidden  from  us  except  at  rare  moments.  We  must 
seek  to  understand  the  ways  in  which  divine  in- 
telligence has  gradually  revealed  itself  in  the  midst 
13 


194  Treitschke 

of  all  the  conflicting  movements  of  life;  we  must 
not  seek  to  dominate  history.  The  noblest  quality 
of  the  practical  statesman  is  his  ability  to  point 
to  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  to  realize  in  some 
measure  how  universal  history  may  develop  at  a 
given  moment.  Further,  nothing  becomes  a  poli- 
tician better  than  modesty.  The  circumstances 
with  which  he  is  called  upon  to  deal,  are  so  various 
and  so  complicated,  that  he  must  guard  against 
being  carried  away  on  dark  and  uncertain  ways. 
He  must  resign  himself  to  desiring  only  the  really 
attainable,  and  to  keeping  his  aim  perpetually  and 
steadfastly  in  view.  I  shall  be  content  if  you  have 
learned  during  the  course  of  these  lectures  how 
manifold  are  the  component  parts  which  go  to 
make  up  a  historical  fact,  and  how  it  becomes  us, 
therefore,  to  be  most  deliberate  in  giving  a  verdict 
in  political  matters.  I  shall,  indeed,  be  satisfied 
if  these  lectures  have  taught  you  to  cultivate  that 
modesty  which  is  the  essential  outcome  of  true 
learning. 


FIRST  ATTEMPTS  AT  GERMAN 
COLONIZATION. 

THE  strange  confusion  of  ideas  which  we  owe  to 
our  fluctuating  and  antiquated  party-doings 
is  nowhere  so  glaringly  obvious  as  in  the  widely 
spread  opinion  that  the  younger  generation  today 
is  more  conservatively  inclined  than  the  older. 
Some  are  glad  of  this,  while  others  lament  it  and 
attribute  it  to  the  seductive  arts  of  reactionary 
teachers;  but  hardly  anyone  disputes  it  as  a  fact. 
And  yet  it  is  absolutely  absurd  to  think  so,  for 
ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  world  the  young 
have  always  been  more  free-thinking  than  the  old, 
because  they  possess  the  happy  privilege  of  living 
more  in  the  future  than  the  present,  and  nothing 
justifies  the  assumption  that  this  natural  law  has 
ceased  to  hold  good  nowadays.  For  though  the 
new  generation  may  turn  away  with  indifference 
from  the  catch-words  of  the  older  liberalism,  this 
only  shows  that  a  new  age  with  new  ideals  is 
dawning.  In  these  young  men,  whose  childhood 
was  illuminated  by  the  sun  of  Sedan,  national  pride 
is  not  a  feeling  attained  to,  as  in  their  fathers' 
case,  by  hard  struggles,  but  it  is  a  strong  spontane- 
ous passion.  They  sing  their  "  Germany,  Germany 
above  all!"  with  a  joyful  confidence,  such  as  only 

195 


196  Treitschke 

isolated  strong  characters  of  the  older  generation 
could  cherish.  They  regard  the  struggle  for  par- 
liamentary rights,  which  to  their  elders  was  often 
an  aim  in  itself,  at  most  as  a  means  to  an  end. 
The  object  of  their  ambition  is  that  the  young 
giant  who  has  just  shaken  the  sleep  from  his  eye- 
lids should  now  use  his  strong  arms  to  advance  the 
civilization  of  mankind  and  to  make  the  German 
name  both  formidable  and  precious  to  the  world. 
Therefore  our  German  youth  were  thrilled  as  by 
an  electric  shock  when,  in  August,  1884,  the  news 
came  that  our  flag  waved  upon  the  coast  of  Angra 
Pequena  and  the  Cameroons,  and  that  Germany 
had  taken  the  first  modest  but  decided  step  in  the 
path  of  independent  colonization. 

To  the  ancient  political  system  of  Europe,  which 
was  a  result  of  the  weakness  of  its  central  States, 
a  new  combination  of  States  has  succeeded, 
founded  on  the  strength  of  Central  Europe.  By 
means  of  a  pacific  policy  on  a  large  scale,  our  Gov- 
ernment has  obliged  the  other  continental  Powers 
to  adapt  themselves  to  the  new  order  of  things, 
while  our  legislation  at  the  same  time  labours  to 
quell  the  social  unrest  which  threatens  the  founda- 
tions of  all  civilization.  Thus  before  our  eyes  is 
being  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  the  Crown  Prince 
Frederick,  that  his  country  would  be  one  day  so 
strong  as  to  guard  peace  by  righteous  dealing,  not 
by  inspiring  fear;  and  it  is  only  one  more  necessary 
step  in  the  path  of  this  pacific  policy  if  Germany 
at  last  sets  herself  to  take  her  proper  share  in  the 


German  Colonization  197 

great  work  of  expansive  civilization.  Like  so 
many  other  happy  forecasts  of  the  sixteenth 
century  which  have  been  first  fulfilled  in  our  days, 
the  proud  expression  "il  mondo  e  poco,"  which  in 
the  days  of  Columbus  sounded  like  an  empty 
boast,  is  now  being  verified.  Now  that  we  can 
sail  round  the  world  in  eleven  weeks,  it  is  really 
small,  and  its  political  future  is  discernible  to  the 
foreseeing  eye. 

With  full  confidence  we  may  say  to-day  that  the 
democracies  of  the  European  nations  and  their 
descendants  will  one  day  govern  the  whole  world. 
China  and  Japan  may  possibly  still  for  centuries 
preserve  their  old  peculiar  forms  of  civilization, 
together  with  a  strong  blending  of  European  cul- 
ture ;  in  India — though  this  is  by  no  means  certain 
— an  independent  Indian  nationality  may  be 
evolved  from  the  intermingling  of  countless  races 
and  religions;  finally — which  is  still  more  im- 
probable— the  old  bellicose  Islam,  when  it  has 
been  driven  out  of  Europe,  may  form  a  new  power- 
ful State  in  Asia  Minor;  but  with  the  exception  of 
these  countries,  in  the  whole  world  no  other  nation 
is  to  be  found  that  can  in  the  long  run  withstand 
the  immense  superiority  of  European  arms  and 
commerce.  The  barrier  is  broken,  and  the  stream 
of  European  colonization  must  pour  unceasingly 
over  all  the  world,  far  and  near,  and  those  who 
live  in  the  twentieth  century  will  be  able  for  the 
first  time  in  all  seriousness  to  speak  of  a  "world- 
history."  We  must  at  the  same  time  remember 


198  Treitschke 

that,  "  trees  are  not  allowed  to  grow  into  the  sky."1 
Nowhere  in  nature  is  mere  largeness  a  decisive 
factor.  Just  as  our  little  earth,  so  far  as  we  can 
guess,  is  the  noblest  body  in  the  solar  system,  so 
this  ancient  multiform  Europe,  on  however  great 
a  scale  international  intercourse  may  take  place, 
and  in  any  conceivable  future,  will  always  remain 
the  heart  of  the  world,  the  home  of  all  creative 
culture,  and  therefore  the  place  where  all  the 
important  questions  of  political  power  will  be 
decided.  All  colonies  are  like  engrafted  shoots; 
they  lack  the  youthful  vigour  which  results  from 
natural  growth  from  a  root.  There  is  indeed  a 
wonderful  growth  of  commercial  prosperity  when 
the  rich  capital  and  skilled  energy  of  a  civilized 
nation  come  in  contact  with  the  untouched  re- 
sources of  a  new  country;  but  quiet  mental  com- 
posure, the  source  of  all  enduring  works  of  art  and 
science,  does  not  find  a  favourable  atmosphere  in 
the  restless  hurry  of  colonial  life.  How  much 
more  richly  furnished  by  nature  were  the  Greek 
colonies  in  South  Italy  and  Sicily  than  their  little 
motherland.  There  lay  luxurious  Sybaris;  there 
Syracuse,  the  metropolis  of  the  Hellenic  world; 
there  Akragas,  "fairest  city  of  mortals"  as  Pindar 
calls  it,  surpassing  Athens  herself  in  splendour  and 
renown.  And  yet  how  small  appears  the  share  of 
this  richly  favoured  land  in  everything  which 
lends  value  and  significance  to  the  history  of 
Greece. 

1  German  proverb. 


German  Colonization  199 

Similarly  the  history  of  North  America,  the 
greatest  of  all  modern  colonies,  only  confirms 
former  experience.  The  economic  energy  of  this 
growing  nation  has  already  performed  miracles 
upon  miracles ;  her  giant  railways,  which  cast  into 
the  shade  all  similar  works  in  the  old  world, 
stretch  from  sea  to  sea.  Still  in  spite  of  all  auguries 
the  star  of  the  world's  history  shows  hitherto  no 
tendency  to  move  westwards.  That  wealth  of 
intellectual  life  which  Washington  once  hoped  for 
his  country,  has  failed  to  appear,  and  many  who 
weary  of  Europe,  went  to  America,  have  come 
back,  weary  of  America,  because  they  could  not 
breathe  the  exhausted  air  of  the  land  of  the  Al- 
mighty Dollar. 

How  often  have  the  newspapers  of  both  hemi- 
spheres referred  to  the  future  New  Zealander,  who, 
according  to  Macaulay's  famous  prophecy,  is  one 
day  to  look  from  the  broken  pillars  of  London 
Bridge  on  the  immeasurable  ruins  of  London !  But 
anyone,  who  soberly  tests  this  majestic  vision,  will 
arrive  at  the  comforting  conclusion  that  the  said 
New  Zealander  is  hardly  likely  ever  to  be  in  the 
position  to  undertake  his  archaeological  journey  to 
those  ruins.  Christian  nations  cannot  perish,  and 
the  earth  no  longer  harbours  such  countless  swarms 
of  youthful  barbarians,  such  as  once  destroyed  the 
Roman  .Empire.  There  is  a  great  probability  that 
the  nations  of  Europe,  when  the  habitable  globe 
has  been  covered  with  their  colonies,  will  not  sink 
from  their  height,  but  attain  new  vigour  by  the 


2OO  Treitschke 

emigration  of  their  superfluous  populations,  and 
the  fulfilment  of  their  new  tasks  of  civilization. 
When  the  first  Spanish  explorers  landed  in  America 
they  bathed  eagerly  in  every  spring,  because  they 
hoped  there,  in  the  West,  to  find  the  legendary 
Fountain  of  Youth.  The  time  seems  approaching 
when  that  longing  of  the  early  discoverers  will  find 
its  fulfilment,  and  the  New  World  will  prove  a 
"Fountain  of  Youth"  for  Europeans  in  a  deeper 
sense  than  they  once  thought.  Through  the 
colonization  of  the  distant  regions  of  the  earth, 
the  history  of  Europe  also  acquires  a  newer,  richer 
significance,  and  Germany,  with  full  right,  demands 
that  she  should  not  be  left  behind  in  this  great 
rivalry  of  nations.  She  feels  not  only  mortified 
in  her  political  ambition  when  she  considers  her 
position  in  the  transatlantic  world;  but  she  feels 
also  a  kind  of  moral  shamefacedness  when  obliged 
to  confess  that  we  Germans  have  only  contributed 
a  very  little  to  the  great  cosmopolitan  works  of 
modern  international  intercourse.  The  founding 
of  the  International  Postal  Union  and  the  part  we 
took  in  the  building  of  the  St.  Gothard  Railway — 
these  are  almost  our  only  services  in  this  sphere, 
and  how  they  shrink  into  insignificance  when 
compared  with  the  achievements  of  English  colo- 
nial policy,  or  even  with  the  works  of  the  French- 
man, Ferdinand  Lesseps. 

This  feeling  of  shame  is  all  the  more  oppressive 
because  we  can  assert  that  Germany  yields  to  no 
nation  in  its  capacity  for  founding  colonies.  In 


German  Colonization  201 

the  countries  on  the  right  of  the  Elbe,  our  nation 
once  carried  out  the  greatest  and  most  fruitful 
schemes  of  colonization  which  Europe  has  seen 
since  the  days  of  the  Roman  Empire;  for  here  it 
succeeded  in  obliterating  the  usual  distinction 
between  colony  and  motherland  so  completely, 
that  these  colonized  lands  formed  the  nucleus  of 
our  new  system  of  States,  and  since  Luther's  time 
were  able  to  take  part  in  the  intellectual  progress  of 
the  nation,  as  equal  allies  of  the  older  stock.  For 
more  than  two  hundred  years,  Germany,  solely 
by  the  power  of  its  free  citizens,  held  supremacy 
over  the  northern  seas.  By  means  of  her  commer- 
cial colonies,  the  slumbering  capacities  of  Scan- 
dinavia for  intercourse  with  other  nations  were 
awakened,  and  certainly  it  was  not  due  to  our 
fathers'  fault,  but  to  an  unavoidable  tragic  fate, 
that  the  glory  of  the  Hanseatic  League  perished. 
This  was  at  the  same  time  that  the  Italians,  our 
old  companions  in  misfortune,  lost  command  of  the 
sea  in  the  south.  For  to  every  age  and  every 
nation  a  limit  of  power  is  assigned.  It  was  im- 
possible that  the  two  nations  which  through  the 
Renaissance  and  the  Reformation  had  opened  up 
the  way  for  modern  civilization,  should,  at  the 
very  time,  when  the  discovery  of  the  New  World 
had  ruined  all  the  usual  routes  of  commerce,  be 
able  to  rival  the  Spaniards  and  Portuguese  in  their 
foreign  conquests. 

It  was  not  till  later  that  the  Germans  incurred 
the  guilt  of  a  grievous  sin  of  omission,  in  the  long, 


2O2  Treitschke 

dreary  time  of  peace  which  followed  the  Schmal- 
kaldic  War.  Then  it  was  that  the  German  Pro- 
testants had  a  safe  prospect  of  recovering  the  last 
command  of  the  sea,  if  they  had  united  with  their 
kindred  co-religionsists  in  the  Netherlands.  But 
at  this  most  discreditable  period  of  our  modern 
history,  the  two  national  faults,  which  still  now  so 
often  hamper  our  economic  energy,  doctrinaire 
idealism  and  easy-going  self-indulgence,  were 
strongly  flourishing.  The  nation  degenerated 
through  theological  controversies  and  the  coarse 
sensuality  of  a  sluggish  peace.  She  left  it  to  the 
Dutch  to  break  the  naval  power  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  afterwards  to  the  English  to  subdue  the  Dutch 
conquerors.  Everyone  knows  how  terribly  the  sins 
of  those  years  of  peace  were  punished  by  the 
dire  ruin  of  our  ancient  civilization.  During  the 
two  centuries  of  struggle  which  followed,  when  we 
had  painfully  to  recover  the  rule  in  our  own 
country,  every  attempt  at  German  colonization 
was  naturally  impossible.  The  ingenious  African 
schemes  of  the  Great  Elector  were  far  in  advance 
of  their  time;  they  were  doomed  to  failure;  a 
feudal  agricultural  country  without  a  sea-board 
could  not  possibly  maintain  control  over  a  remote 
colonial  possession  for  any  length  of  time. 

But  even  during  this  long  period  of  inland 
quietude,  our  nation  has  shown  that  she  is,  accord- 
ing to  her  capacity  and  position  in  the  world,  the 
most  cosmopolitan  of  all  peoples;  she  lost  neither 
the  old  impulse  to  seek  the  distant,  nor  the  power 


German  Colonization  203 

to  assert  herself  valiantly  among  foreign  nations. 
On  all  the  battle-fields  of  the  world  German  blood 
flowed  in  streams;  most  of  the  crowns  of  Europe 
fell  into  the  hands  of  German  royal  houses;  and 
it  was  really  through  the  power  of  Germany  that 
Russia  was  enrolled  among  the  nations  of  Europe. 
It  is  true  that  this  vast  expenditure  of  overflowing 
national  forces  only  ratified  anew  the  lament  of 
Goethe  that  the  Germans  were  respectable  as  in- 
dividuals, but  despicable  as  a  whole.  Again  and 
again  the  voice  of  Fate  called  to  us  "sic  vos  non 
vobis. "  And  when  in  recent  times  the  peoples  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  stock  began  to  divide  the  trans- 
atlantic world  between  them,  the  Germans  were 
again  their  unwearied  associates.  German  traders 
rivalled  the  leading  firms  of  the  world  from  Singa- 
pore to  Philadelphia.  Millions  of  Germans  helped 
the  North  Americans  to  conquer  their  part  of  the 
world  for  civilization. 

But  the  Germans  at  home,  had,  so  long  as  the 
Federal  Diet  ruled  over  them,  too  heavy  domestic 
cares  to  think  seriously  about  the  lot  of  their 
emigrants.  They  made  a  virtue  of  necessity,  and 
in  their  philosophic  way  evolved  the  doctrine  that 
it  was  the  historic  destiny  of  the  German  spirit  to 
blend  far  out  there  in  the  West  with  the  genius  of 
other  nations.  It  is  true  that  the  Americans  found 
a  less  obscure  description  for  this  mysterious 
"blending,"  though  they  now  vainly  seek  to  dis- 
avow it;  they  said,  "The  Germans  form  an  ex- 
cellent fertilizer  for  our  people!"  When,  just 


204  Treitschke 

twenty  years  ago — though  I  had  then  no  anticipa- 
tion of  the  near  fulfilment  of  German  destinies,  I 
ventured,  in  my  treatise,  Federal  State  and  Uni- 
fied State,  to  make  the  heretical  remark  that 
only  those  States  which  possessed  naval  power 
and  ruled  territories  across  the  sea  could  rank  in 
future  as  great  Powers,  I  was  severely  taken  to 
task  by  various  critics.  With  the  immeasurable 
superiority,  which,  as  is  well-known,  the  judge 
possesses  over  the  culprit,  they  told  me  that  these 
were  old-fashioned  ideas,  and  that  since  the  times 
of  the  American  War  of  Independence  and  the 
founding  of  the  Spanish  colonies,  the  period  of 
colonization  has  come  to  an  end.  Such  was  the 
general  opinion  in  Germany  in  the  days  of  the 
Federal  Diet.  Meanwhile,  England,  not  troubling 
herself  about  the  wisdom  of  our  philosophical 
historians,  continued  to  extend  her  colonial  empire 
over  half  the  world. 

Since  then,  how  strangely  public  sentiment  has 
changed!  We  now  look  out  into  the  world  with 
other  claims  than  formerly.  Especially  is  this  the 
case  with  those  Germans  who  live  abroad,  who 
have  a  far  livelier  appreciation  of  the  blessings  of 
the  new  empire  than  we  at  home.  The  uneasy 
ferment  of  the  last  five  years,  although  accom- 
panied by  the  disintegration  of  ancient  parties  and 
an  abundance  of  wild  animosity  and  ungrateful 
fault-finding,  has  also  given  rise  to  some  wholesome 
self-criticism ;  we  have  had  our  attention  drawn  to 
our  weaknesses,  and  begin  to  perceive  in  how  many 


German  Colonization  205 

respects  we  come  short  of  worthily  occupying  the 
position  of  a  great  nation.  During  these  last 
years,  without  any  pressure  from  authority,  there 
has  risen  from  the  people  themselves  a  spontaneous 
demand  for  German  colonies  with  as  much  em- 
phasis and  confidence  in  the  future  as  formerly 
accompanied  the  demand  for  a  German  fleet. 
Since  F.  Fabri  first  discussed  -the  subject,  a  whole 
literature  on  the  colonial  question  has  come  into 
existence.  In  the  course  of  these  discussions,  the 
Germans  discovered,  with  joyful  surprise,  that, 
outside  official  circles,  we  possessed  a  considerable 
number  of  practical  political  writers,  which  can 
console  us  for  the  increasing  dreariness  and  im- 
poverishment of  our  parliamentary  life.  By  the 
persistent  endeavours  of  our  brave  travellers, 
missionaries,  and  merchants,  the  first  attempt  at 
German  colonization  has  had  the  way  prepared  for 
it,  and  been  rendered  possible.  Germany's  modest 
gains  on  the  African  coast  only  aroused  attention 
in  the  world  at  large,  because  everyone  knew  that 
they  were  not  due,  as  in  the  case  of  the  colonizing 
experiments  of  the  Electorate  of  Brandenburg,  to 
the  bold  idea  of  a  great  mind,  but  because  a  whole 
nation  greeted  them  with  a  joyful  cry,  "At  last! 
At  last!" 

For  a  nation  that  suffers  from  continual  over- 
production, and  sends  yearly  200,000  of  her  chil- 
dren abroad,  the  question  of  colonization  is  vital. 
During  the  first  years  which  followed  the  restora- 
tion of  the  German  Empire,  well-meaning  people 


206  Treitschke 

began  to  hope  that  the  constant  draining  away 
of  German  forces  into  foreign  countries  would 
gradually  cease,  together  with  the  political  persecu- 
tions, the  discontent,  and  the  petty  domestic 
coercive  laws  of  the  good  old  times.  This  hope 
was  disappointed,  and  was  doomed  to  be  so,  for 
those  political  grievances  were  not  the  only,  nor 
even  the  most  important  causes  of  German  emigra- 
tion. In  the  short  time  since  the  establishment  of 
the  empire,  the  population  has  increased  by  a  full 
eighth,  and  this  rapid  growth,  in  spite  of  all  the 
misery  which  it  involves,  is  nevertheless  the 
characteristic  of  a  healthy  national  life,  which,  in 
its  careless  consciousness  of  power,  does  not  trouble 
itself  with  the  warnings  of  the  "two-child  system." 
It  is  true  that  Germany  is  as  yet  by  no  means 
over-populated,  least  of  all  in  those  north-eastern 
districts  from  which  the  stream  of  emigration 
flows  most  strongly.  Many  of  our  emigrants,  if 
they  exercised  here  the  same  untiring  diligence 
which  inexorable  necessity  enforces  on  them  in 
America,  could  also  prosper  in  their  old  fatherland. 
But  there  are  periods  of  domiciliation,  and  again 
periods  in  which  the  impulse  to  wander  works  like 
a  dark,  elementary  power  on  the  national  spirit. 
Just  as  the  song  "Eastwards!  Eastwards!  "once 
rang  seductively  through  the  villages  of  Flanders,  so 
countless  numbers  dream  now  of  the  land  of 
marvels  across  the  sea.  And  just  as  little  as  pru- 
dential counsel  could  restrain  the  crusaders  from 
their  sacred  enterprise,  so  little  can  considerations 


German  Colonization  207 

of  reason  prevail  against  the  vague  longing  for  the 
West.  It  is  also  easy  to  calculate  that  our  popula- 
tion, provided  its  growth  continues  as  before,  must, 
in  no  distant  future,  rise  to  a  hundred  millions  and 
more;  then  their  fatherland  would  be  too  narrow 
for  the  Germans,  even  if  Prussia  resumed  the 
colonization  of  its  eastern  borderlands  in  the  old 
Frederician  style,  and  found  room  in  the  estates 
there  for  thousands  of  peasants  and  long-lease 
tenants.  According  to  all  appearance,  German 
emigration  will  still  for  a  long  while  remain  an 
unavoidable  necessity,  and  it  becomes  a  new  duty 
for  the  motherland  to  take  care  that  her  wandering 
children  remain  true  to  their  nationality,  and  open 
new  channels  for  her  commerce.  This  is  in  the 
first  place  more  important  than  our  political  con- 
trol of  the  lands  we  colonize.  A  State,  whose 
frontiers  march  with  those  of  three  great  Powers, 
and  whose  seaboard  lies  open  towards  a  fourth, 
will  generally  only  be  able  to  carry  on  great  na- 
tional wars  and  must  keep  its  chief  military  forces 
carefully  collected  in  Europe.  The  protection  of  a 
remote,  easily  threatened  colonial  empire  would 
involve  it  in  embarrassments  and  not  strengthen 
it. 

And  just  now,  after  our  good  nature  has  striven 
all  too  long  not  to  be  forced  into  the  humiliating 
confession,  we  are  at  last  obliged  to  admit  that 
the  German  emigrants  in  North  America  are 
completely  lost  to  our  State,  and  our  nationality. 
Set  in  the  midst  of  a  certainly  less  intellectual  but 


208  Treitschke 

commercially  more  energetic  people,  the  nation- 
ality of  the  German  minority  must  inevitably  be 
suppressed  by  that  of  the  majority,  just  as  formerly 
the  French  refugees  were  absorbed  in  Germany. 
And  as  the  expulsion  of  the  Huguenots  was  for 
France  a  huge  misfortune,  the  effects  of  which  are 
still  operative,  so  the  German  emigration  to  North 
America  is  an  absolute  loss  for  our  nation — a 
present  given  to  a  foreign  country  without  any 
equivalent  compensation. 

Moreover,  for  the  general  cause  of  civilization, 
the  Anglicizing  of  the  German-Americans  is  a 
heavy  loss.  Even  the  Frenchman,  Leroy-Beaulieu, 
confesses  this  with  praiseworthy  impartiality, 
among  Germans,  there  can  be  no  question  at  all 
but  that  human  civilization  suffers  loss  every 
time  that  a  German  is  turned  into  a  Yankee. 
All  the  touching  proofs  of  faithful  recollection 
which  the  motherland  has  received  from  the 
German- Americans  since  the  year  1870,  does  not 
alter  the  fact  that  all  German  emigrants,  at  latest 
in  the  third  generation,  become  Americans.  Al- 
though in  certain  districts  of  Pennsylvania,  a 
corrupt  German  dialect  may  survive  side  by  side 
with  English,  although  some  cultured  families 
may  now,  when  German  national  consciousness  is 
everywhere  stronger,  perhaps  be  able  to  postpone 
being  completely  Anglicized  till  the  fourth  genera- 
tion, yet  the  political  views  of  the  emigrants  are 
inevitably  coloured  by  the  ideas  prevalent  in  their 
new  home;  in  commerce,  they  even  become  our 


German  Colonization  209 

enemies,  and,  voluntarily  or  involuntarily,  help 
to  injure  German  agriculture  by  a  depressing 
rivalry.  The  overpowering  force  of  their  new  cir- 
cumstances compels  them  to  divest  themselves  of 
their  nationality,  until  perhaps  at  last  nothing  is 
left  them  but  a  platonic  regard  for  German  litera- 
ture. 

Therefore  it  is  quite  justifiable  on  the  ground  of 
national  self-preservation  that  the  new  German 
Colonial  Union  should  seek  for  ways  and  means  to 
divert  the  stream  of  German  emigrants  into  lands 
where  they  run  no  danger  of  losing  their  nation- 
ality. Such  a  territory  has  been  already  found  in 
the  south  of  Brazil.  There,  unassisted  and  some- 
times not  even  suspected  by  the  motherland,  German 
nationality  remains  quite  intact  for  three  genera- 
tions, and  our  rapidly  increasing  export  trade  with 
Porto  Allegre  shows  that  the  commerce  of  the  old 
home  profits  greatly  by  the  loyalty  of  her  emigrant 
children.  Other  such  territories  will  also  be  dis- 
covered if  our  nation  enters  with  prudence  and 
boldness  on  the  new  era  now  opening  to  the  colo- 
nizing energy  of  Europeans. 

With  the  crossing  of  Africa  begins  the  last  epoch 
of  great  discoveries.  When  once  the  centre  of  the 
Dark  Continent  lies  open,  the  whole  globe,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  regions  which  will  be  always 
inaccessible  to  civilization,  is  also  opened  before 
European  eyes.  The  common  interest  of  all 
nations — with  the  exception  of  England — demands 
that  these  new  acquisitions  of  modern  times  should 
14 


2io  Treitschke 

be  dealt  with  in  a  more  liberal,  just,  and  humane 
way  than  the  former  ones  which  only  profited  the 
nations  of  the  Iberian  peninsula,  in  order  finally 
to  ruin  them.  The  summoning  of  the  Congo  con- 
ference and  our  understanding  with  France  show 
that  our  Government  knows  how  to  estimate 
properly  the  importance  of  this  crisis.  As  a  sea- 
power  of  the  second  rank,  Germany  is  in  colonial 
politics  the  natural  representative  of  a  humane 
law  of  nations,  and  since  England,  now  fully 
occupied  with  Egyptian  affairs,  will  hardly  oppose 
the  united  will  of  all  the  other  Powers,  there  is 
ground  for  hope  that  the  conference  will  have  a 
happy  issue  and  open  the  interior  of  Africa  to  the 
free  rivalry  of  all  nations.  Then  it  will  be  our 
turn  to  show  what  we  can  do;  in  those  remote 
regions  the  power  of  the  State  can  only  follow  the 
free  action  of  the  nation  and  not  precede  it.  In 
this  new  world  it  must  be  seen  whether  the  trivial 
pedantry  of  an  unfortunate  past,  after  just  now 
celebrating  its  orgies  in  the  struggle  of  the  Hansa 
towns  against  the  national  Customs  Union,  has  at 
last  been  overcome  for  ever,  and  whether  the 
German  trader  has  enough  self-confidence  to 
venture  on  rivalry  with  the  predominant  financial 
strength  of  England. 

The  future  will  show  whether  the  founding  of 
German  agricultural  colonies  is  possible  in  the 
interior  of  Africa ;  there  will  certainly  be  an  oppor- 
tunity for  founding  mercantile  colonies  which  will 
yield  a  rich  return.  After  destiny  has  treated  us 


German  Colonization  211 

badly  for  so  many  centuries,  we  may  well  count  for 
once  on  the  favour  of  fortune.  In  South  Africa 
also  circumstances  are  decidedly  favourable  for  us. 
English  colonial  policy,  which  has  been  successful 
everywhere  else,  has  not  been  fortunate  at  the 
Cape.  The  civilization  which  flourishes  there  is 
Teutonic  and  Dutch.  The  attitude  of  England 
wavering  between  weakness  and  violence,  has 
evoked  among  the  brave  Dutch  Boers  a  deadly 
ineradicable  hatred.  Moreover  since  the  Dutch 
have  in  the  Indo-Chinese  islands  abundant  scope 
for  their  colonizing  energy,  it  would  only  be  a 
natural  turn  of  events,  if  their  German  kindred 
should  hereafter  in  some  form  or  other,  undertake 
the  protectorate  of  the  Teutonic  population  of 
South  Africa,  and  succeed  as  heirs  of  the  English 
in  a  neglected  colony  which  since  the  opening  of  the 
Suez  Canal  has  little  more  value  for  England. 

If  our  nation  dares  decidedly  to  follow  the  new 
path  of  an  independent  colonial  policy,  it  will 
inevitably  become  involved  in  a  conflict  of  inter- 
ests with  England.  It  lies  in  the  nature  of  things 
that  the  new  great  Power  of  central  Europe  must 
come  to  an  understanding  with  all  the  other  great 
Powers.  We  have  already  made  our  reckoning 
with  Austria,  with  France,  and  with  Russia;  our 
last  reckoning,  that  with  England,  will  probably 
be  the  most  tedious  and  the  most  difficult; for 
here  we  are  confronted  by  a  line  of  policy  which 
for  centuries,  almost  unhindered  by  the  other 
Powers,  aims  directly  at  maritime  supremacy. 


212  Treitschke 

How  long  has  Germany  in  all  seriousness  believed 
this  insular  race,  which  among  all  the  nations  of 
Europe  is  undoubtedly  imbued  with  the  most 
marked  national  selfishness,  whose  greatness  con- 
sists precisely  in  its  hard  inaccessible  one-sided- 
ness,  to  be  the  magnanimous  protector  of  the 
freedom  of  all  nations!  Now  at  last  our  eyes 
begin  to  be  opened,  and  we  recognize,  what  clear- 
headed political  thinkers  have  never  doubted, 
that  England's  State  policy,  since  the  days  of 
William  III.,  has  never  been  anything  else  than  a 
remarkably  shrewd  and  remarkably  conscienceless 
commercial  policy.  The  extraordinary  successes 
of  this  State-policy  have  been  purchased  at  a  high 
price,  consisting  in  the  first  place  of  a  number  of 
sins  and  enormities.  The  history  of  the  English 
East  India  Company  is  the  most  defiled  page  in 
the  annals  of  the  modern  European  nations,  for 
the  shocking  vampirism  of  this  merchant-rule 
sprang  solely  from  greed;  it  cannot  be  excused, 
as  perhaps  the  acts  of  Philip  II.  or  Robespierre 
may  be,  by  the  fanaticism  of  a  political  conviction. 
A  still  more  serious  factor  in  the  situation  is,  that 
owing  to  her  transatlantic  successes  England  has 
lost  her  position  as  a  European  Great  Power;  in 
negotiations  on  the  continent  her  voice  counts  no 
longer,  and  all  the  great  changes  which  have 
recently  occurred  in  Central  Europe  took  place 
without  England's  participation,  though  for  the 
most  part  accompanied  by  impotent  cries  of  rage 
from  the  London  press.  The  worst  consequence, 


German  Colonization  213 

however,  of  British  commercial  policy  is  the  im- 
mense and  well-justified  hatred  which  all  nations 
have  gradually  been  conceiving  towards  England. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  international  law  Eng- 
land is  to  day  the  place  where  barbarism  reigns; 
it  is  England's  fault  alone  that  naval  war  is  to  day 
only  an  organized  piracy,  and  a  humane  maritime 
international  law  cannot  be  established  in  the 
world  till  a  balance  of  power  exists  at  sea  as  it 
long  has  on  land,  and  no  State  can  dare  any  longer 
to  permit  itself  everything.  English  politicians 
were  never  at  a  loss  for  philanthropic  phrases 
with  which  to  cloak  their  commercial  calculations ; 
at  one  time  they  alleged  the  necessity  of  maintain- 
ing the  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  at  another  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  at  another  constitutional 
freedom;  and  yet  their  national  policy,  like  every 
policy  which  aims  at  the  unreasonable  goal  of 
world  supremacy  always  reckoned,  as  its  founda- 
tion principle,  on  the  misfortunes  of  all  other 
nations. 

England's  commercial  supremacy  had  its  origin 
in  the  discords  on  the  continent,  and  owing  to  her 
brilliant  successes,  which  were  often  gained  without 
a  struggle,  there  has  grown  up  in  the  English 
people  a  spirit  of  arrogance,  for  which  "Chau- 
vinism" is  too  mild  an  expression.  Sir  Charles 
Dilke,  the  well-known  Radical  member  of  Mr. 
Gladstone's  Cabinet,  in  his  book,  Greater  Britain, 
which  is  often  mentioned,  but,  alas,  too  little  read 
here,  claims  as  necessary  acquisitions  for  "Greater 


214  Treitschke 

Britain,"  China,  Japan,  Chili,  Peru,  the  La  Plata 
States,  the  tablelands  of  Africa — in  short,  the 
whole  world.  In  spite  of  the  outrageous  ill-usage 
of  Ireland,  and  the  bestial  coarseness  of  the  London 
mob,  he  calls  Great  Britain  the  land  which  from 
the  earliest  time  exhibits  the  greatest  amount  of 
culture  and  insight,  together  with  the  least  inter- 
mixture of  ignorance  and  crime.  He  looks  con- 
fidently forward  to  the  time  when  Russia  and 
France  will  only  be  pigmies  by  the  side  of  England. 
In  only  three  passages  does  he  deign  to  make  a 
cursory  mention  of  the  Germans.  One  of  them 
is  when  he  asks  indignantly  whether  we  really  wish 
to  be  so  selfish  as  to  decline  to  support  with  Ger- 
man money  the  Euphrates  Railway  which  is 
indispensable  to  Greater  Britain?  Thus,  then, 
the  manifold  glories  of  the  world's  history,  which 
commenced  with  the  empire  of  the  monosyllabic 
Chinese,  are  to  conclude  their  melancholy  cycle 
with  the  empire  of  the  monosyllabic  British! 

In  opposition  to  such  claims — and  the  impetuous 
politician  only  gives  incautious  utterance  to  what 
all  England  thinks — all  the  nations  of  Europe  are 
united  together  by  a  common  interest.  Since  the 
growing  industries  of  the  Continent  have  out- 
grown the  possibility  of  being  exploited  by  Eng- 
land, and  the  mutual  understanding  of  the  three 
Emperors  has  ensured  peace  on  the  Continent, 
and  even  France  has  begun  to  accustom  herself 
to  the  new  and  more  sustainable  balance  of  power, 
the  foundations  of  English  maritime  supremacy 


German  Colonization  215 

have  begun  to  be  shaken.  It  is  neither  necessary 
nor  probable  that  the  further  development  of  these 
tendencies  should  lead  to  a  European  war ;  Holland, 
for  example,  lost  her  commercial  supremacy  not 
through  war,  but  through  the  tender  embraces 
of  her  English  ally.  The  Power  which  is  strongest 
on  land  cannot  cherish  the  wish  to  attain  maritime 
supremacy  also.  German  policy  is  national  and 
cosmopolitan  at  the  same  time;  it  counts,  other- 
wise than  British  policy  does,  on  the  peaceful 
prosperity  of  her  neighbours.  We  can  rejoice 
without  reserve  at  each  advance  of  the  Russians 
in  Central  Asia,  and  each  French  success  in  Ton- 
king.  Our  ambition  only  reaches  thus  far,  that  in 
the  still  uncolonized  quarters  of  the  earth,  wind 
and  sun  should  be  fairly  divided  between  the 
civilized  nations.  If  the  Congo  Conference 
succeeds  in  checking  the  high-handed  arbitrariness 
of  England  in  Central  Africa,  the  first  united 
repulse  of  English  encroachments  will  not  be  the 
last,  since,  outside  Europe,  there  is  no  need  for 
the  interests  of  the  continental  Powers  to  collide. 
The  great  German  seaport  towns,  at  present  im- 
bued with  a  half-mutinous  spirit  toward  the 
Government,  have  the  prospect  of  a  new  period 
of  revival;  it  is  from  the  Hansa  towns  that  the 
bold  pioneers  of  our  nation  in  Africa  come.  What 
Schiller  at  the  commencement  of  the  nineteenth 
century  wrote  about  the  greedy  polyp-like  arms 
of  England  is  not  out  of  date  to  day ;  but  we  hope 
that  when  the  twentieth  century  dawns  the  trans- 


216  Treitschke 

atlantic  world  will  have  already  learned  that  the 
Germans  to  day  no  longer,  as  in  Schiller's  day, 
escape  from  the  stress  of  life  into  the  still  and  holy 
places  of  the  heart. 


TWO  EMPERORS. 

1 5th  June,  1888. 

FOR  the  second  time  within  a  hundred  days  the 
nation  stands  at  the  bier  of  its  Emperor. 
After  the  most  fortunate  of  all  her  rulers,  she  la- 
ments the  most  unfortunate.  It  seems  as  if  in  the 
course  of  the  history  of  our  Emperors,  not  only  im- 
perial splendour  was  to  have  a  new  birth  but  the 
tremendous  tragic  vicissitudes  of  fate  were  also 
to  be  renewed.  It  was  in  very  truth  under  the 
guidance  of  God  as  he  so  often  said  in  simple 
humanity,  that  the  Emperor  William  I  reached 
the  pinnacle  of  universal  fame,  against  all  human 
calculation  and  reckoning,  and  far  beyond  his 
own  hope.  In  his  steady  ascent,  however,  he 
proved  fully  competent  to  each  new  and  greater 
task,  till,  arrived  at  the  last  limit  of  life,  he  ended 
his  days  in  a  halo  of  glory.  In  death  also  he  was 
the  effective  uniter  of  the  Germans,  who,  to  the 
accompaniment  of  the  cannon-thunder  of  his 
battles,  had,  for  the  first  time  after  centuries, 
known  the  happiness  of  joy  at  complete  victories, 
and  now  gathered  round  his  funeral  vault  in  the 
unanimity  of  hallowed  grief.  During  the  years 
when  the  character  of  a  growing  man  usually 

217 


218  Treitschke 

takes  its  decisive  bent,  Prince  Wilhelm  could  only 
cherish  the  ambition,  some  day  as  his  father's  or 
brother's  Commander-in-Chief,  to  lead  the  armies 
of  Prussia  to  new  victories.  Himself  almost  the 
youngest  among  the  champions  of  the  War  of 
Liberation,  he  shared  with  Gneisenau,  with  Clause- 
witz,  and  all  the  political  thinkers  of  the  Prussian 
Army  the  conviction  that  Germany's  new  western 
frontier  was  as  untenable  as  its  loose  confederation 
of  States,  and  that  only  a  third  Punic  War  could 
finally  decide  the  old  struggle  for  power  between 
Gauls  and  Germans,  and  secure  the  independence 
of  the  German  State.  All  through  the  quiet 
period  of  peace  he  held  fast'  by  this  hope.  As 
early  as  the  year  1840  he  copied  out  in  his  own 
handwriting  Becker's  song,  "Our  Rhine,  free 
German  river,  they  ne'er  shall  take  away,"  and 
finished  the  last  words,  "Till  the  last  brave  Ger- 
man warrior  beneath  its  stream  is  laid,"  with  that 
bold  flourish  of  the  pen  which  afterwards  in  the 
Emperor's  signature  became  familiar  to  the  whole 
world.  Hatred  to  the  French  was  entirely  absent 
from  his  generous  disposition,  but  more  sagacious 
than  all  the  Prussian  statesmen  with  the  possible 
exception  of  Motz,  he  early  grasped  the  European 
situation  as  it  regarded  Prussia  and  recognized 
that  the  latter  must  grow  in  order  to  escape  the 
intolerable  pressure  of  so  many  superior  military 
Powers.  Thoroughly  imbued  with  such  thoughts, 
and  being  every  inch  a  soldier,  he  became  in  a  few 
years  the  favourite  and  the  ideal  of  the  Army, 


Two  Emperors  219 

beloved  for  his  friendly  courtesy,  and  feared  for 
an  official  severity,  which  showed  even  the  lowest 
camp-follower  that  a  careful  and  judicial  eye  was 
watching  him.  He  looked  upon  his  people  in  arms 
and  their  awakened  intelligence  with  the  undi- 
minished  enthusiasm  of  the  War  of  Liberation, 
but  also  with  the  more  sober  resolve  to  develop 
singly  the  ideas  of  Scharnhorst  and  adapt  them 
to  the  changed  times,  so  that  this  Army  might 
always  remain  the  foremost.  Outside,  in  the 
smaller  States,  what  was  here  undertaken  in  deep 
political  seriousness,  was  regarded  as  idle  parade 
display.  The  leaders  of  public  opinion  indulged 
in  radical  dreams,  expressed  enthusiastic  admira- 
tion for  Poles  and  Frenchmen  and  hoped  for  per- 
petual peace.  In  the  conceit  of  their  superfine 
culture  they  could  not  comprehend  what  the 
Prince's  simple  martial  thoroughness  and  devo- 
tion to  duty  signified  for  the  future  of  the  Father- 
land. 

It  was  not  till  the  reign  of  his  brother,  when  the 
"Prince  of  Prussia"  had  already  to  reckon  with 
the  possibility  of  his  own  accession,  that  he  engaged 
in  affairs  of  State.  Like  his  father,  he  wished  to 
preserve  the  foundations  of  the  ancient  monar- 
chical constitution  unaltered.  "Prussia  shall  not 
cease  to  be  Prussia."  Word  for  word  he  foretold 
to  his  brother1  what  he  was  hereafter  destined  to 
experience  when  the  controversy  regarding  the  re- 
organization of  the  Army  arose.  The  Diet,  he  said, 

1  Frederick  William  IV. 


22O  Treitschke 

would  misuse  its  right  to  control  taxes  in  order  to 
weaken  the  power  of  the  Army  by  shortening  the 
period  of  military  service,  and  could,  under  the 
plea  of  economy,  easily  deceive  even  the  loyal. 
His  warning  was  disregarded,  and,  just  as  he  had 
once  for  the  sake  of  the  State  sacrificed  his  youth- 
ful love,  so  now  he  ceased  to  protest,  as  soon  as  the 
King  had  made  his  decision  on  the  subject.  He 
chivalrously  stepped  into  the  breach  in  the  United 
Diet,  in  order  to  divert  towards  himself  all  the 
grudges  which  had  collected  against  the  throne 
during  that  time  of  ferment. 

Then  came  the  storms  of  the  Revolution  period. 
A  mad  hatred  and  huge  misunderstanding  were 
discharged  upon  his  head;  only  the  Army  which 
knew  him  understood  him.  Round  the  bivouac 
fires  of  the  Prussian  Guard  in  Schleswig-Holstein 
they  sang 

"Prince  of  Prussia,  bold  and  true, 
Come  back  to  thy  troops  anew, 
Much  beloved  General!" 

And  when  he  returned  from  the  exile  which  he  had 
undergone  for  his  brother's  sake,  he  accepted  in 
obedience  to  the  King  the  new  constitutional 
regime.  He  gladly  acknowledged  what  was  right 
and  vital  in  the  measure,  of  the  Frankfort  Parlia- 
ment; but  he  would  not  sacrifice  the  privileges 
of  the  German  Princes  and  the  strict  monarchical 
constitution  of  the  Army  to  doctrinaire  attempts 
at  innovation.  The  movement  which  had  no 


Two  Emperors  221 

leaders  ended  in  a  terrible  disappointment.  The 
Prince  found  himself  compelled  to  put  down  the 
disturbance  in  Baden.  During  the  long  years  of 
exhaustion  which  followed  he  had  plenty  of  time 
to  reflect  on  the  causes  of  the  failure,  and  to  ponder 
his  brother's  remark  that  an  Imperial  Crown  could 
be  won  only  on  the  battle-field. 

Then  the  illness  of  King  Frederick  William  IV 
set  him  at  the  head  of  the  State.  After  a  year  of 
patient  waiting,  he  assumed  the  regency  in  virtue 
of  his  own  right,  firmly  tearing  asunder  the  finely- 
spun  webs  of  conspiracy,  and  two  years  after- 
wards, he  succeeded  to  the  throne.  But  once 
again  after  some  short  days  of  jubilation  and 
vague  expectancy  he  had  again  to  experience  the 
fickleness  of  popular  favour,  and  commence  the 
struggle  which  he  had  foreseen  when  heir  to 
the  throne — the  struggle  which  concerned  his  own 
peculiar  task — the  reconstitution  of  the  Army. 
Party  hatred  increased  to  an  incredible  degree, 
such  as  was  only  possible  in  the  nation  which  had 
waged  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Matters  came  to 
such  a  pitch  that  the  German  comic  papers  cari- 
catured the  honest,  manly  soldier's  face,  which 
still  reflected  the  smile  of  Queen  Louisa,  under 
the  likeness  of  a  tiger.  The  struggle  about  the 
constitution  of  the  Army  became  so  hopelessly 
complicated,  that  only  the  decisive  force  of  mili- 
tary successes  could  cut  the  tangled  knot,  and 
establish  the  King's  right. 

And  these  successes  came  in  those  seven  great 


222  Treitschke 

years  when  all  at  once  the  results  of  two  hundred 
years  of  Prussian  history  were  summed  up,  when 
one  after  the  other,  all  the  problems  at  which  the 
Hohenzollern  statesmen  had  laboured  through  so 
many  generations,  were  solved.  The  last  of  the 
North  German  marches  was  wrested  from  Scandi- 
navian rule,  and  thereby  the  work  of  the  Great 
Elector  was  completed;  the  Battle  of  Koniggratz 
realized  the  hope  which  had  been  shattered  on  the 
field  of  Kollin,  the  hope  of  the  liberation  of  Ger- 
many from  the  dominion  of  Austria;  finally,  a 
succession  of  incomparable  victories,  and  the 
coronation  of  the  Emperor  in  the  hall  of  the  Bour- 
bons, at  Versailles,  surpassed  all  that  the  comba- 
tants of  1813  had  expected  from  the  third  Punic 
War  to  which  they  looked  forward.  The  Prussians 
thankfully  recognized  that  their  constitution 
was  more  secure  than  ever  under  this  strong  rule; 
for  immediately  after  the  Bohemian  War,  the 
King,  who  had  been  so  completely  successful  in 
the  affair,  voluntarily  made  legal  reparation  for 
the  infringement  of  constitutional  forms,  and 
when  the  strife  was  over,  not  a  word  of  bitterness  to 
recall  it,  came  from  his  lips.  But  the  German 
Confederates  had,  through  the  victories  of  this 
war — the  first  they  had  really  waged  in  common — 
at  last  attained  to  a  healthy  national  pride,  and  in 
their  joy  at  the  new  Empire  forgotten  the  rivalries 
of  many  centuries. 

In  all  these  strange  courses  of  events,  which 
might  have  turned  even  a  sober  brain,  King  Wil- 


Two  Emperors  223 

liam  appeared  always  and  equally  firm  and  sure, 
kindly  and  modest.  During  the  constitutional 
struggle  he  made,  according  to  his  own  confession, 
the  severest  sacrifice  which  could  have  been 
demanded  from  his  heart,  which  always  craved 
for  affection,  in  bearing  the  estrangement  from 
his  beloved  people.  In  the  same  spirit  of  self- 
conquest  he  formed  the  difficult  resolve  to  go  to 
war  with  Austria,  with  whom  he  had  been  so  long 
on  friendly  terms.  Yet  after  his  victory  he  de- 
manded without  any  hesitation  the  acquisitions 
which  he  would  never  have  taken  from  the  hands 
of  the  revolutionaries  as  the  price  of  a  righteous 
war.  During  the  sittings  of  the  first  North  Ger- 
man Reichstag,  he  said,  smilingly,  with  his  sublime 
naive  frankness,  to  the  deputies  for  Leipzig, 
"Yes,  I  would  gladly  have  kept  Leipzig." 

In  these  difficult  years  he  only  wavered  when, 
with  his  soldierly  directness,  he  could  not  at 
once  bring  himself  to  believe  in  the  Jesuitry  of 
cunning  opponents.  It  was  thus  at  Baden,  in 
1863,  when  the  German  Diet  invited  him  in  so 
apparently  friendly  and  frank  a  way  to  the  Frank- 
fort Conference,  and  again  in  Ems  during  the 
negotiations  with  Benedetti.  But  to  regard  the 
great  crisis  of  history  in  too  petty  and  minute  a 
way  is  to  falsify  it;  it  is  enough  for  posterity  to 
know  that  after  a  short  hesitation  which  did  honour 
to  his  character,  King  William  made  the  right 
resolve  in  both  cases. 

After  his  return  home,  the  new  Emperor  said: 


224  Treitschke 

"This  result  had  been  for  a  long  time  in  our 
thoughts  as  a  possibility.  Now  it  has  been  brought 
to  the  light.  Let  us  take  care  that  it  remains 
day."  It  is  true  that  he  himself  believed,  that 
in  a  "short  span  of  time,"  as  he  said,  he  would 
be  able  to  witness  only  the  first  beginnings  of  the 
new  order  in  Germany.  But  the  event  proved 
otherwise  and  better.  He  was  not  only  destined 
to  complete  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  kingdom, 
but  by  the  force  of  his  personality  to  give  inward 
support  to  its  growth.  At  first  many  of  the  con- 
federate princes  saw  in  the  constitution  of  the 
Empire  only  a  fetter,  but  they  soon  all  recognized 
in  it  a  security  for  their  own  rights,  because  the 
indisputable  leader  of  the  high  German  nobility 
wore  the  Imperial  crown  and  his  fidelity  assured 
absolute  security  to  each.  So  it  came  to  pass, 
really  through  the  merit  of  the  Emperor,  and 
contrary  to  the  frankly  uttered  expectation  of  the 
Chancellor,  that  the  Federal  Council,  which  at 
one  time  was  universally  suspected  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  particularism,  became  the  reliable 
support  of  national  unity,  while  the  Reichstag 
soon  again  fell  a  prey  to  the  incalculable  caprices 
of  party-spirit. 

The  Emperor  William  never  possessed  a  con- 
fidant who  advised  him  in  everything.  With  a 
sure  knowledge  of  men  he  found  out  capable 
ministers  for  his  Council,  and  with  the  magna- 
nimity of  a  great  man  he  allowed  those,  whom  he 
had  tested,  a  very  free  hand;  but  each,  even  the 


Two  Emperors  225 

Chancellor,  only  within  his  own  department. 
He  always  remained  the  Emperor,  and  held  all 
the  threads  of  government  together  in  his  own 
hand. 

He  first  tasted  the  greatest  happiness  of  life, 
when,  after  escaping  by  a  miracle  an  attempt  at 
assassination,  he  answered  the  enemies  of  Society 
with  that  magnanimous  Imperial  manifesto,  in 
which  he  undertook  to  eradicate  the  social  evils 
of  the  time.  Then  it  was  that  the  nation  first 
understood  completely  what  they  possessed  in 
their  Emperor;  and  a  stream  of  affectionate 
loyalty,  such  as  only  springs  from  the  depths  of 
the  German  spirit,  carried  and  supported  him 
through  his  last  years.  Europe  became  accus- 
tomed to  revere  in  the  grey-headed  victor  of  so 
many  battles  the  preserver  of  the  world's  peace; 
and  it  was  for  the  sake  of  peace  that  he  overcame 
his  old  preference  for  Russia,  and  concluded  the 
Central-European  Alliance.  In  domestic  matters 
the  strong  monarchical  character  of  his  rule  grew 
more  defined  as  the  years  went  on ;  the  individual 
will  of  the  Emperor  maintained  his  right  in  the 
Parliaments,  and  was  now  supported  by  the  cordial 
concurrence  of  a  now  thoroughly  informed  public 
opinion.  The  Germans  knew  that  their  Emperor 
always  did  what  was  necessary,  and  in  his  simple, 
artless,  distinct  way,  always  "said  what  was  to 
be  said,"  as  Goethe  expressed  it.  Even  in  pro- 
vinces which  lay  remote  from  the  lines  on  which 
his  own  mental  development  had  proceeded,  he 
is 


226  Treitschke 

soon  found  himself  at  home  with  his  inborn  gift 
of  kingly  penetration;  however  much  the  nation 
owed  him  in  the  sphere  of  artistic  production,  he 
never  distinguished  with  his  favour  anyone  who 
was  unworthy  among  the  artists  and  the  literati. 
Some  features  in  his  character  recall  his  ancestors 
the  Great  Elector  and  the  Great  King,  Frederick 
William  I  and  Frederick  William  III ;  that  which 
was  peculiar  to  him  was  the  quiet  and  happy 
harmony  of  his  character.  In  his  simple  greatness 
there  was  nothing  dazzling  or  mysterious,  except 
the  almost  superhuman  vitality  of  his  body  and 
soul.  All  could  understand  him  except  those 
who  were  blinded  by  the  pride  of  half -culture ; 
the  immense  strength  of  his  character,  and  his 
unswerving  devotion  to  duty  served  as  an  example 
to  all,  the  simple  and  the  intellectual  alike.  Thus 
he  became  the  most  beloved  of  all  the  Hohenzollern 
rulers.  With  splendid  unanimity  the  Reichstag 
voted  him  the  amount  necessary  for  strengthening 
the  Army,  and  up  to  the  last  his  honest  eyes 
looked  hopefully  from  the  venerable  storm-beaten 
countenance  on  all  the  vital  elements  of  the  new 
time.  Only  shortly  before  his  death  he  spoke  with 
confidence  of  the  patriotic  spirit  of  the  younger 
generation  in  Germany.  When  he  departed,  there 
was  a  universal  feeling  as  though  Germany  could 
not  live  without  him,  although  for  years  we  had 
been  obliged  to  expect  the  end. 

What  a  contrast  between  the  continually  ascend- 
ing course  of  life  of  the  great  father  and  the  gloomy 


Two  Emperors  227 

destiny  of  the  noble  son!  Born  as  heir  to  the 
throne,  and  joyfully  hailed  at  his  birth  on  the 
propitious  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Leipzig 
by  all  Prussian  hearts,  carefully  educated  for  his 
princely  position  by  excellent  teachers,  Prince 
Frederick  William,  as  soon  as  he  attained  to  man- 
hood, appeared  to  excel  all  in  manly  strength  and 
beauty.  When  he  married  the  English  Princess 
Royal,  all  the  circles  of  Liberalism  expected  from 
his  rule  a  time  of  prosperity  for  the  nations,  for 
England  was  still  reckoned  to  be  the  model  land 
of  freedom,  and  the  halo  of  political  legend  still 
encircled  the  heads  of  Leopold  of  Belgium  and  of 
the  House  of  Coburg,  who  were  delighted  at  the 
marriage.  It  was  soon  evident  that  the  Crown 
Prince  could  neither  reconcile  himself  to  those 
infringements  of  formal  rights  which  were  caused 
by  the  struggle  about  the  constitution,  nor  to  the 
plan  for  incorporating  Schleswig-Holstein  with 
Prussia.  But  he  never  consented,  like  most 
English  heirs  to  the  throne,  to  place  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  Opposition ;  and  he  rejected  as  un- 
Prussian  the  thought  that  there  could  ever  be  a 
party  of  the  Crown  Prince.  In  the  Danish  War 
he  accomplished  his  first  great  service  for  the 
State;  his  powerful  co-operation  helped  the  still 
unexperienced  and  often  hesitating  commanders 
to  decide  on  a  bolder  procedure. 

Then  came  the  brilliant  days  of  his  fame  as 
Commander-in-Chief,  which  have  secured  for 
him  for  ever  his  place  in  German  history.  He 


228  Treitschke 

helped  towards  winning  the  victory  of  Koniggratz 
by  the  bold  attacking  skirmishes  of  his  Silesian 
Army  and  made  it  decisive  by  his  attack  on 
Chlum.  He  delivered  the  first  crushing  blows 
in  the  war  against  France ;  his  fair  Germanic  giant 
figure  was  the  first  announcement  to  the  Alsatians 
that  their  old  Fatherland  was  demanding  them 
back;  through  his  martial  deeds  and  the  heart- 
moving  power  of  his  cheerful  popular  kindness, 
the  Bavarian  and  Swabian  warriors  were  for  the 
first  time  quite  won  over  to  the  cause  of  German 
unity.  Never  in  the  German  Army  will  the  day 
be  forgotten  when,  after  fresh  and  glorious  victo- 
ries, "Our  Fritz,"  distributed  the  iron  crosses  to 
his  Prussians  and  Bavarians  before  the  statue  of 
Louis  XIV,  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Palace  of 
Versailles. 

After  peace  was  concluded,  the  position  of  the 
famous  Commander-in-Chief  was  not  an  easy  one. 
As  a  Field-Marshal  he  was  already  too  high  in 
military  rank  and  had  too  little  interest  in  the 
daily  duties  of  a  time  of  peace  for  it  to  be  easy  to 
find  him  a  suitable  command.  Only  the  most 
important  of  the  German  military  inspections, 
the  oversight  of  the  South  German  troops,  was 
assigned  to  him,  and  every  year  he  performed  this 
duty  for  some  weeks  with  so  much  insight,  firm- 
ness, and  friendliness,  that  he  won  almost  more 
affection  in  the  South  than  in  his  Northern  home. 
The  South  Germans  saw  him  fully  occupied  and 
exerting  all  his  energies;  at  home  he  only  seldom 


Two  Emperors  229 

appeared  in  public  life.  He  was  the  victim  of  his 
father's  extraordinary  greatness,  and  it  was  that 
which  constituted  his  tragic  destiny.  He  passed  in 
a  life  of  retirement  long  years  of  manly  vigour, 
which  according  to  all  human  computation  he 
would  have  had  to  pass  upon  the  throne.  This 
long  period  indeed  brought  him  a  fulness  of  pater- 
nal happiness  and  gave  him  frequent  opportunities 
for  displaying  his  fine  natural  eloquence  and  for 
pursuing  benevolent  projects  that  were  fraught 
with  blessing  for  the  common  weal,  but  it  did  not 
provide  adequate  scope  for  his  virile  energy. 
Already,  when  a  young  Prince,  the  Emperor 
William  cherished  strict  and  well-weighed  prin- 
ciples regarding  the  unavoidable  limits  which 
the  heir  to  the  throne  must  impose  upon  himself; 
he  knew  that  the  first  subject  in  the  Kingdom 
must  not  join  in  discussion,  if  he  is  not  to  be 
tempted  to  join  in  rule.  Like  all  the  great  mon- 
archs  of  history,  and  all  the  Hohenzollerns  with 
the  solitary  exception  of  King  Frederick  William 
III,  he  allowed  the  heir  to  the  throne  no  partici- 
pation in  affairs  of  State. 

Only  once,  after  the  last  attempt  on  the  Em- 
peror's life,  was  the  Crown  Prince  commissioned 
to  represent  his  father.  It  was  an  eventful  time; 
the  Berlin  Congress  had  just  assembled,  the  nego- 
tiations with  the  Roman  Curia  had  hardly  begun, 
and  the  law  regarding  Socialists  was  on  the  point 
of  being  passed.  The  Crown  Prince  carried  out 
all  his  difficult  tasks  with  masterly  discretion, 


230  Treitschke 

and  Germany  should  never  forget  how  he,  con- 
trary doubtless  to  the  dictates  of  his  own  mild 
heart,  caused  the  executioner's  axe  to  fall  on  the 
neck  of  the  Emperor's  assailant.  By  this  brave 
act  he  re-enforced  the  half -obsolete  death-punish- 
ment and  gave  it  the  weight  which  it  should  have 
in  every  properly  ordered  State. 

On  the  Emperor's  recovery  the  Crown  Prince 
withdrew  to  the  quiet  life  of  his  home,  and  the 
spirit  of  criticism  which  pervades  the  Courts  of 
all  heirs-apparent  could  not  fail  to  find  expression 
now  and  then,  but  it  did  so  always  in  a  modest 
and  respectful  way.  His  exertions  on  behalf  of 
art  were  many  and  fruitful;  without  him  the 
Hermes  of  Praxiteles  would  not  have  been  awak- 
ened to  new  life,  and  the  Berlin  Technological 
Museum  would  not  have  been  completed  in  such 
classical  purity  of  form.  He  was  the  first  in  the 
succession  of  the  Prussian  heirs  to  the  throne  who 
had  received  a  University  education  and  he  was 
proud  to  wear  the  purple  mantle  of  the  Rector 
of  the  old  Albertina  University.  In  his  long  life 
of  retirement,  however,  the  Crown  Prince  some- 
times lost  touch  with  the  powerful  progressive 
movements  of  the  time  and  could  not  fully  follow 
the  new  ideas  which  were  in  vogue.  He  thought 
to  arrest  with  a  few  words  of  angry  censure  the 
anti-semitic  movements,  the  sole  cause  of  which 
was  the  over-weening  presumption  of  the  Jews, 
and  he  warned  the  students  of  Konigsberg  against 
the  dangers  of  Chauvinism,  a  sentiment  which 


Two  Emperors  231 

after  two  hundred  years  of  cosmopolitanism,  is 
as  unfamiliar  to  the  Germans  as  its  foreign 
name. 

But  the  course  of  human  things  looks  different 
from  a  throne  than  when  viewed  from  below.  The 
nation,  knowing  the  well-beloved  Prince  as  they 
did,  hoped  that,  as  in  the  case  of  his  father,  his 
character  would  develop  with  his  life-tasks  and 
that  he  would  show  as  much  energy  as  a  sovereign 
as  he  had  displayed  when  representing  his  father. 
Then  the  catastrophe  overtook  him.  Three  Ger- 
man physicians — Professors  Gerhardt,  von  Berg- 
mann,  and  Tobold — recognized  at  once  the  char- 
acter of  the  disease,  and  spoke  the  truth  fearlessly 
as  we  are  accustomed  to  expect  from  German  men 
of  science.  A  cure  was  still  possible  and  even 
probable.  But  the  resolve  which  would  have 
saved  the  patient  was  lacking,  and  who  can 
venture  to  utter  a  word  of  blame,  since  al- 
most every  layman  in  similar  circumstances 
would  have  made  a  similar  choice.  Then  the 
patient  was  handed  over  to  an  English  physi- 
cian, who  at  once,  by  the  unparalleled  false- 
hood of  his  reports,  cast  a  stain  on  the  good 
name  of  our  ancient  and  honourable  Prussia. 
With  growing  anxiety  the  Germans  began  to 
surmise  that  this  precious  life  was  in  bad  hands. 
The  result  was  more  tragic  than  their  worst  fears. 
When  the  Emperor  William  closed  his  eyes,  a 
dying  Emperor  came  up  to  succeed  to  the  lofty 
inheritance. 


232  Treitschke 

The  greatness  of  the  monarchy,  and  its  superi- 
ority to  all  republican  forms  of  government  rests 
essentially  on  the  well-assured  and  long  duration 
of  the  princely  office.  Its  power  is  crippled  when 
this  assurance  is  lacking.  The  reign  of  the  dying 
Emperor  could  only  be  a  sad  episode  in  the  history 
of  the  Fatherland,  sad  on  account  of  the  inex- 
pressible sufferings  of  the  noble  patient,  sad  on 
account  of  the  deceitful  proceedings  of  the  English 
doctor  and  his  dirty  journalistic  accomplices,  and 
sad  on  account  of  the  impudence  of  the  German 
Liberal  party  who  obtruded  themselves  eagerly 
on  the  Emperor  as  though  he  belonged  to  them, 
and  certainly  gained  one  success,  the  fall  of  the 
Minister  von  Puttkamer.  The  monarchical  par- 
ties on  the  other  hand  both  by  a  feeling  of  loyalty 
and  the  prospect  of  the  approaching  end  were 
compelled  to  preserve  comparative  silence.  At 
such  times  of  testing,  all  the  heart-secrets  of  parties 
are  revealed.  Those  who  did  not  know  it  before 
were  now  obliged  to  recognize  what  sycophancy 
lurks  beneath  the  banner  of  free  thought,  and 
how  everyone  who  thought  for  himself  would  be 
tyrannized  over  if  this  party  ever  came  into  power. 
Fortunately  for  us,  in  the  whole  Empire  they  have 
behind  them  only  the  majority  of  Berlin  people, 
some  learned  men  who  have  gone  astray  in  politics, 
the  mercantile  communities  of  some  discontented 
trading  towns,  and  the  certainly  considerable 
power  of  international  Judaism.  But  let  us  banish 
these  dark  pictures  which  history  has  long  left 


Two  Emperors  233 

behind.  Let  us  hold  fast  in  reverent  recollection 
that  which  lends  moral  consecration  to  the  tragic 
reign  of  the  Emperor  Frederick.  With  a  religious 
patience,  whose  greatness  only  a  few  of  the  initi- 
ated can  thoroughly  understand,  with  an  heroic 
strength  which  outshines  all  the  glories  of  his 
victories  on  the  battlefield,  he  bore  the  tortures 
of  his  disease,  and  bereft  of  speech  he  still  pre- 
served in  the  face  of  death  the  old  fidelity  to  duty 
of  the  Hohenzollerns  and  his  warm  enthusiasm 
for  all  the  unchanging  ideals  of  humanity.  In  a 
way  worthy  of  his  father  he  departed  to  ever- 
lasting peace,  and  so  long  as  German  hearts  beat, 
they  will  remember  the  royal  sufferer  who  once 
appeared  to  us  the  happiest  and  most  joyful  of 
the  Germans  and  now  was  doomed  to  end  his  life 
in  so  much  suffering. 

In  those  happy  days  when  the  picture  of  the 
"Four  Kings"1  hung  in  all  German  shop- windows, 
many  a  one  said  to  himself  in  sorrowful  foreboding 
that  "it  was  too  great  good-fortune."  Now  the 
equalizing  justice  of  Providence  has  caused  the 
abundance  of  joy  to  be  followed  by  such  an  excess 
of  grief  as  seems  too  hard  for  a  monarchic  people. 
Of  the  four  Kings  two  are  no  more.  But  life 
belongs  to  the  living.  With  hopeful  confidence 
the  nation  turns  her  eyes  to  her  young  Imperial 
lord.  All  which  he  has  hitherto  said  to  his  people, 
breathes  a  spirit  of  strength  and  courage,  piety 
and  justice.  We  know  that  the  good  spirit  of  the 

1  William  I,  Frederick  III,  William  II,  Crown  Prince  William. 


234  Treitschke 

old  Emperor's  times  still  remains  unlost  to  the 
Empire,  and  even  in  the  first  days  of  mourning 
we  lived  through  a  great  hour  of  German  history. 
With  German  fidelity  all  our  Princes  gathered 
around  the  Emperor  and  appeared  with  him 
before  the  representatives  of  the  nation.  The 
world  learned  that  the  German  Emperor  does  not 
die,  whoever  may  wear  the  crown  for  the  moment. 
What  a  change  of  affairs  since  the  times  when  on 
each  New  Year's  day  the  German  Courts  watched 
anxiously  for  the  utterances  'of  the  mysterious 
Cassar  on  the  Seine!  To-day  the  German  speech 
from  the  throne  makes  no  mention  of  these  world- 
powers  which  once  presumed  to  be  the  only  repre- 
sentatives of  civilization,  for  one  can  argue  as 
little  with  unteachable  enemies  as  with  pushing 
and  doubtful  friends.  Whether  Europe  accom- 
modates itself  peacefully  to  the  alteration  of  the 
old  relations  between  the  Powers,  or  whether  the 
German  sword  must  again  be  drawn  to  secure 
what  has  been  won,  in  either  case  we  hope  to  be 
prepared. 

Unless  all  signs  are  deceptive,  this  great  century 
which  seemed  to  begin  as  a  French  one,  will  end 
as  a  German  one;  by  Germany's  thoughts  and 
Germany's  deeds  will  the  problem  be  solved  how 
a  strong  hereditary  sovereignty  can  be  compatible 
with  the  just  claims  of  modern  society.  Some 
day  the  time  must  come,  when  the  nations  will 
realize  that  the  battles  of  the  Emperor  William 
not  only  created  a  Fatherland  for  the  Germans 


Two  Emperors 


235 


but  bestowed  upon  the  community  of  European 
States  a  juster  and  more  reasonable  arrangement. 
Then  will  be  fulfilled  what  Emmanuel  Geibel  once 
said  to  the  grey-haired  conqueror. 


"Some  day  through  the  German  nation, 
All  the  world  will  find  salvation." 


GERMANY  AND  NEUTRAL  STATES.1 

HEIDELBERG, 
25  th  October,  1870. 

NO  hatred  is  so  bitter  as  enmity  against  the  man 
who  has  been  unjustly  treated ;  men  hate  in 
him  what  they  have  done  to  him.  That  is  as  true 
of  nations  as  of  individuals.  All  our  neighbours, 
some  time  or  other,  grew  at  Germany's  expense, 
and  to-day,  when  we  have  at  length  smashed  the 
last  remnants  of  foreign  domination,  and  demand 
a  modest  reward  for  righteous  victories,  a  per- 
manent guarantee  of  national  freedom,  angry 
blame  of  German  insatiability  resounds  throughout 
the  European  press.  Especially  do  those  small 
countries,  which  owe  their  very  existence  to  the 
dismemberment  of  the  German  Empire,  e.  g., 
Belgium,  Holland,  Switzerland,  complain  loudly 
that  an  arrogant  Pan-Germanism  has  destroyed 
our  people's  sense  of  fairness.  It  is  hatred  that 
vents  itself  in  these  charges;  no  impartial  person 
can  deny  that  the  notion  of  Pan-Germanism  is  as 
foreign  to  us  Germans  as  its  name,  which  originated 
in  the  bogey -fears  of  foreign  countries.  No  doubt 
owing  to  the  excitement  of  the  times,  a  foolish 

1  Preussisches  Jahrbuch,  vol.  26,  p.  605,  et  seq. 
236 


Germany  and  Neutral  States      237 

boastfulness  has  here  and  there  come  into  being; 
out-and-out  Teutons  are  imploring  us  to  banish 
all  foreign  words  from  the  sanctuary  of  the  Ger- 
man language;  men  of  picturesque  talents  among 
the  unemployed  are  drawing  on  the  patient  map 
of  Europe  a  kingdom  of  Armorica  and  Arelat 
between  France  and  Germany.  However,  such 
ideas  are  simply  the  isolated  absurdities  of  idle 
heads;  once  in  a  while  they  may  accidentally 
stray  into  one  of  the  bigger  newspapers,  but  even 
then  they  appear  only  in  those  insignificant  col- 
umns devoted  to  such  subjects  as  sea-snakes  and 
triplets,  children  with  fowls'  heads,and  the  mythi- 
cal Fusilier  Kutschke.  The  great  majority  of 
German  politicians  exhibit  to-day  a  deliberate 
moderation,  which  the  Swiss  and  Belgians  would 
hold  in  greater  respect  if  those  nations,  which 
enjoy  the  more  comfortable  peace  and  quiet  of  a 
neutrality  protected  by  other  Powers,  were  able 
to  put  themselves  in  thought  in  the  position  of  a 
great  warrior-nation  which  has  been  forced  to 
fight  for  its  life  by  an  unscrupulous  attack. 

Public  opinion  has  become  more  quickly  united 
regarding  the  reward  of  our  victory  than  ever 
before  in  a  complicated  question.  The  boundary 
line  of  the  Government  of  Alsace,  which  has  indeed 
been  drawn  with  a  considerate  hand  and  will  pre- 
sumably constitute  Germany's  boundary,  meets 
almost  everywhere  with  agreement.  People  only 
regret,  and  rightly  so,  that  the  splendid  region  of 
the  Breusch,  which  is  abundant  in  springs,  and 


238  Treitschke 

the  district  around  Schirmack,  together  with  the 
Steinthal,  that  essentially  German  tract  of  country 
consecrated  by  the  life-work  of  the  unforgettable 
Oberlin,  are  not  included  in  the  new  boundary. 
Blind  lust  of  conquest  is  so  alien  to  the  Germans 
that  they  even  decide  with  much  unwillingness 
to  demand  the  possession  of  Metz;  but  the  obvious 
impossibility  of  leaving  right  at  our  doors  in  the 
hands  of  revengeful  enemies  this  town,  which  is  a 
stronghold  by  its  position,  not  by  its  walls,  compels 
us  in  this  case  to  enter  into  occupation  of  French 
territory. 

The  desire  of  robbing  the  neutral  neighbouring 
States,  which  imaginative  persons  in  Bale  and 
Brussels  are  fond  of  attributing  to  us,  is  expressed 
only  by  some  isolated  German  Chauvinists.  We 
notice  with  anxiety,  like  all  the  thoughtful  Swiss, 
that  those  two  decades  of  fresh  prosperity  which 
Switzerland  enjoyed  since  the  Civil  War  are  to-day 
at  an  end.  We  ask,  gravely,  what  shall  eventually 
be  the  outcome  of  a  development  which  is  tending 
ever  more  and  more  to  loosen  every  community 
and  every  individual  from  the  State?  But  we 
honestly  wish  that  the  Confederation  may  succeed 
in  overcoming  the  disintegrating  power  of  an 
unbridled  Radicalism;  the  role  which  this  asylum 
for  all  parties  has  long  played,  to  the  good  of  Eu- 
rope, is  not  yet  played  out  by  any  means.  No  in- 
telligent German  wants  to  increase  the  excessively 
strong  centrifugal  powers,  which  are  embraced 
in  our  new  Empire,  by  the  inclusion  of  purely 


Germany  and  Neutral  States      239 

Republican  elements,  and  all  free  men  are  horror- 
struck  at  the  thought  that  Geneva  and  Lausanne, 
which  are  to-day  the  centres  of  an  independent 
intellectual  movement,  would,  by  the  dissolution 
of  the  Swiss  Confederation,  be  involved  in  the 
horrible  fall  of  France.  We  are  also  quite  without 
arriere-pensee  in  regard  to  the  Netherland  States, 
which  did  so  little  to  win  Germany's  friendship; 
we  certainly  trust  that  the  strengthening  of  the 
German  Empire  will  of  itself  bring  it  about,  that 
the  foolish  inclination  at  The  Hague  to  France  may 
be  moderated,  and  that  the  Flemish  majority  in 
Belgium  may  find  the  courage  to  assert  their  race 
beside  the  Walloon  minority.  Still,  because  we 
do  not  want  to  shake  the  national  constitutions 
of  these  buffer-States,  because  we  demand  a 
lasting  arrangement  on  our  Western  boundary, 
for  that  reason  a  question  has  now  to  be  settled 
once  for  all,  which  threatens  to  be  continually 
disturbing  our  good  relations  with  our  small 
neighbours,  although  it  has  in  very  truth  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  independence  of  the  Nether- 
lands. The  conclusion  of  peace  with  France  may 
and  shall  afford  the  opportunity  of  incorporating 
Luxemburg  in  the  German  Empire. 

It  is  repugnant  to  us  to  revive  to-day  the 
memory  of  the  odious  transaction  which  deprived 
us  of  that  territory — the  single  bitter  memory  in 
the  glorious  history  of  the  North  German  Confede- 
ration. Suffice  it  that  that  German  territory 
which  by  the  decision  of  Europe  was  once  allotted 


240  Treitschke 

to  the  House  of  Orange  and  the  Crown  of  Prussia, 
in  order  to  protect  it  against  France's  lust  of 
piracy,  was  suddenly  sold  and  betrayed  to  France 
by  its  own  rulers.  When  the  Prussian  Govern- 
ment entered  a  protest,  it  was  confronted  by  the 
unconcealed  partisan  disfavour  of  all  the  European 
Powers.  The  fear  of  France  lay  heavily  on  the 
world;  it  reads  to  us  to-day  like  a  farce,  when  we 
read  in  the  documents  of  those  days  how  Lord 
Stanley  and  Count  Beust  outri vailed  each  other 
in  depicting  to  our  Government  the  fearful  superi- 
ority of  French  power;  the  French  fleet  would 
occupy  the  attention  of  the  greater  portion  of 
our  forces,  would  make  it  impossible  for  us  to 
protect  South  Germany,  etc.  Prussia,  which 
was  honestly  trying  to  display  its  love  of  peace  in 
an  affair  not  altogether  free  from  doubt,  and  was, 
moreover,  fully  busied  with  the  founding  of  the 
new  Confederation,  gave  up  its  right  of  garrison- 
ing, and  contented  itself  with  the  inadequate 
result,  that  France  had  to  abandon  her  welcome 
purchase.  In  place  of  the  military  protection 
which  Prussia  had  afforded  the  country  up  till  then, 
was  substituted  a  moral  protection,  by  which  the 
great  Powers  undertook  a  common  responsibility 
for  the  neutrality  of  the  Grand  Duchy.  But 
scarcely  had  the  agreement  been  concluded,  when 
it  at  once  lost  all  its  value  owing  to  the  perfidious 
interpretation  put  upon  it  by  England.  Amid 
the  exultant  cheers  of  Parliament,  Lord  Stanley 
declared  that  Great  Britain  would  only  take  up 


Germany  and  Neutral  States      241 

arms  for  Luxemburg's  neutrality  if  the  other 
Great  Powers  did  the  same;  the  press,  drunk  with 
peace,  rejoiced  that  England's  obligations  were 
not  extended,  but  limited,  by  the  May  Conven- 
tion— and  the  politics  of  the  Sinking  Island- 
Kingdom  had  taken  a  fresh  step  downwards. 
After  such  words  no  description  is  requisite  of  the 
deeds  that  might  be  expected  from  British  states- 
men ;  nobody  doubts  that  England  would  not  have 
let  itself  be  disturbed  in  its  neutral  complacency, 
even  if  a  victorious  French  army  had  penetrated 
into  Luxemburg  last  August. 

The  joint  European  guarantee  was  from  the 
start  an  empty  form,  and  the  position  of  the  little 
neutral  country  has  been  rendered  completely 
untenable  by  the  mighty  revolutionary  events  of 
recent  weeks.  If  the  German  boundary  advances 
as  far  as  Metz  and  Diedenhof,  Luxemburg  be- 
comes surrounded  in  the  south,  as  in  the  north  and 
east,  by  German-Prussian  territory,  the  country 
no  longer  forms  a  buffer-State  between  France 
and  Prussia,  and  the  object  of  the  May  Convention, 
the  idea  of  preventing  friction  between  the  two 
great  military  Powers,  vanishes  of  itself.  Con- 
sidering the  deadly  enmity  which  will  threaten 
us  yet  a  long  time  from  Paris,  the  Prussian 
Government  could  hardly  tolerate  seeing  the 
communications  between  Treves  and  Metz  in- 
terrupted by  neutral  territory;  serious  military 
considerations  compel  Prussia's  desire  to  plant 
its  standard  again  on  those  Luxemburg  fortifica- 

16 


242  Treitschke 

tions  on  which  it  stood  for  fifty  years,  a  screen 
for  Germany. 

And  is  not  the  neutrality  of  the  little  country, 
the  artificial  creation  of  a  "nation  luxembour- 
geoise,"  in  very  truth  a  disgrace  to  Germany? 
Polyglot  countries,  like  Belgium  and  Switzerland, 
may  justly  be  declared  neutral,  because  their 
mixed  populations  prevent  them  from  taking  par- 
tisan parts  in  the  national  struggles  of  this  century. 
But  to  cut  off  two  hundred  thousand  German 
persons  from  their  Fatherland  in  order  to  place 
them  under  European  guardianship,  that  was  a 
crime  against  common-sense  and  history,  an  insult 
which  could  be  offered  only  to  this  our  hard- 
struggling  Germany.  The  little  State  is  German 
to  the  last  hamlet,  belongs  to  us  by  speech  and 
customs,  by  the  memories  of  a  thousand-years- 
old  history,  as  well  as  by  the  community  of  ma- 
terial interests.  And  this  country,  which  presented 
us  with  three  Emperors,  which  once  revolted 
against  Philip  of  Burgundy  in  order  to  preserve 
its  German  language,  which,  further,  in  the  days 
of  the  French  Revolution,  twice  joined  in  the 
national  war  against  the  hated  French,  this  root- 
and-branch  German  country  is  to-day  under 
French  rule!  The  official  language  is  French,  the 
laws  of  the  country  are  derived  from  France  and 
Belgium.  Since  the  injurious  nine-years'  treaty 
with  Belgium,  people  in  Luxemburg  have  grown 
accustomed,  as  in  Brussels  and  Ghent,  to  admire 
French  methods  as  a  mark  of  distinction.  The 


Germany  and  Neutral  States      243 

officials,  who  are  moulded  in  French  and  Belgian 
schools,  introduce  French  arrogance  from  their 
alien  environment,  radically  oppose  the  German 
spirit,  change  the  honest  old  German  place-names 
of  Klerf  and  Liebenbrunn  into  Clerveaux  and 
Septfontaines.  The  people  are  alienated  from 
the  German  system  of  government  by  the  sins 
of  the  Diet;  they  cannot  forget  that  the  German 
Confederation  once  abandoned  a  half  of  the  coun- 
try in  undignified  fashion  to  Belgium,  and  then 
obligingly  all  the  governmental  pranks  of  reaction- 
ary ministers.  A  fanatical  clergy,  a  lying  press 
conducted  by  French  and  Belgians,  no  doubt 
also  maintained  by  French  gold,  foster  their  hatred 
for  the  great  Fatherland,  and  the  Netherland 
States  gaze  with  indifference  at  the  decline  of  the 
German  civilization. 

Under  such  unhealthy  conditions  every  kind  of 
political  corruption  of  which  the  German  nature 
is  capable  has  spread  over  this  small  people. 
Whilst  the  German  youth  are  shedding  their 
blood  for  the  Eternal,  for  the  Infinite,  the  Luxem- 
burgers  are  wallowing  in  the  mire  of  materialism; 
a  superstitious  belief  in  the  life  of  this  world  has 
emasculated  their  minds,  they  know  nothing, 
they  want  to  know  nothing  except  business  and 
pleasure.  Whilst  in  Germany,  amid  hard  strug- 
glings,  a  new,  a  more  moral  conception  of  liberty 
is  arising,  which  is  rooted  in  the  idea  of  duty, 
there  an  existence  without  duties  is  praised  as  the 
highest  aim  of  life.  They  want  to  derive  advan- 


244  Treitschke 

tage  from  the  Customs  Union,  to  which  the  country 
owes  the  essence  of  its  prosperity,  without  doing 
the  least  service  for  Germany.  They  let  the 
Germans  bleed  for  the  freedom  of  the  left  bank  of 
the  Rhine — including  Luxemburg — they  loudly 
boast  they  have  no  fatherland,  and  reserve  it  to 
themselves  to  heap  abuse  on  Germans  as  slaves, 
to  shout  to  the  German  tide-waiters  a  scornful 
"mer  de  pour  la  Prusse!" 

Ought  Germany  any  longer  to  endure  this 
European  scandal,  this  parasitic  plant  without  a 
fatherland,  which  is  battening  on  the  trunk  of 
our  Empire?  The  national  State  has  the  right 
and  duty  of  protecting  its  nationals  all  over  the 
world ;  it  cannot  endure  that  a  German  race  should 
be  gradually  transformed  into  a  German-French 
mongrel  without  any  reason  except  the  perversity 
of  a  degenerate  bureaucracy.  There  is  only  one 
way  of  preventing  it,  as  things  are,  namely,  the 
inclusion  of  the  country  in  the  German  Empire. 
The  Reichstag,  however,  can  allow  this  inclu- 
sion only  under  two  conditions:  it  must  require 
that  the  German  tongue  be  used  again  as  the 
official  language,  and  that  the  agreement  binding 
the  Grand  Duchy  to  the  Kingdom  of  the  Nether- 
lands shall  be  broken  off.  The  bond  of  union 
between  the  two  States  is  certainly  very  loose; 
still,  in  our  Diet  we  got  to  know  only  too  thor- 
oughly the  unhallowed  consequences  of  the  blend- 
ing of  German  and  foreign  politics;  although  the 
constitution  of  the  Confederation  says  nothing 


Germany  and  Neutral  States      245 

about  it,  we  must  set  up  for  our  new  Empire  the 
infrangible  principle:  no  foreign  sovereign  can 
be  a  member  of  the  German  Confederation. 

We  do  not  mean  that  Germany  should  right- 
away  declare  the  May  Convention  to  be  nullified 
in  consequence  of  the  present  war.  Much  rather 
do  we  desire  the  free  unanimity  of  all  the  parties 
concerned.  The  support  hitherto  afforded  by 
France  to  Luxemburg  independence  is  to-day 
disappearing  of  itself.  The  infatuated  resistance 
of  the  French  will  presumably  oblige  the  Confeder- 
ate general  to  increase  his  demands ;  it  would  then 
be  all  the  easier  for  the  French  Government, 
upon  the  conclusion  of  peace,  to  make  a  binding 
declaration,  in  return  for  some  fair  concession, 
that  it  recognizes  in  advance  the  entry  of  Luxem- 
burg into  the  German  Confederation.  For  the 
conversion  of  the  Luxemburgers  themselves  would 
suffice  a  definite  assurance,  that  henceforth  Ger- 
many's customs-boundary  coincides  with  its  po- 
litical boundary,  and  the  customs-convention  can- 
not be  renewed  unless  the  Grand  Duchy  again 
undertakes  the  duties  of  a  Confederate  territory. 
Such  will  scarcely  fail  of  its  effect  in  that  country, 
where  ideal  reasons  find  no  response,  despite  the 
fiery  enthusiasm  for  independence  which  is  to-day 
again  turning  the  heads  of  the  little  people.  Their 
industries  cannot  flourish  without  the  blessings 
of  German  commercial  freedom;  they  would  be 
bound  to  be  ruined  if  the  Small  State  tried  to 
form  an  independent  market-region,  and  the  same 


246  Treitschke 

would  happen  if  it  entered  the  Belgian  customs 
area. 

Serious  opposition  can  hardly  be  expected  from 
the  Dutch  Government,  which  has  long  been 
weary  of  its  troublesome  neighbour.  But  the 
head  of  the  House  of  Orange  has  long  been  con- 
verted to  the  commercial  neutrality  of  those 
patricians  of  Amsterdam,  whom  his  great  an- 
cestors formerly  fought  against;  his  heart,  however 
warmly  it  may  beat  for  France,  will  find  to-day 
the  clink  of  Prussian  dollars  quite  as  pleasant  as 
that  of  golden  napoleons  four  years  ago.  An 
understanding  must  also  be  possible  with  the 
magnates  of  the  joint  House  of  Nassau,  whose 
rights  were  expressly  reserved  in  the  May  Con- 
vention. The  simplest  solution  of  the  question 
would  certainly  be  arrived  at  if  Prussia  were  to 
acquire  the  country  by  purchase.  Already  the 
Prussian  State  numbers  fifty  thousand  Luxem- 
burgers  among  its  citizens  in  the  districts  around 
Bittburg  and  St.  Vith;  if  the  Grand  Duchy  and 
French-Luxemburg,  together  with  Diedenhof ,  were 
to  be  taken  over  in  addition,  that  misgoverned 
and  mutilated  country  would  at  last  be  united 
again  under  one  Crown — up  to  the  Belgian  portion. 
But  this  solution,  which  is  in  every  respect  most 
desirable,  is  not  absolutely  a  necessity;  German 
interests  primarily  extend  only  so  far  that  the 
Principality  be  again  adopted  into  our  line  of 
defence,  into  the  life  of  our  State  and  culture. 
Should,  therefore,  the  joint  House  prefer  to  raise 


Germany  and  Neutral  States      247 

up  a  Nassau  Prince  as  a  Prince  of  the  Confedera- 
tion to  the  throne  of  Luxemburg,  Germany  cannot 
refuse;  such  an  arrangement  would  at  any  rate 
be  far  preferable  to  the  unreal  conditions  of  to- 
day. Lastly,  we  are  yet  in  need  of  the  agreement 
of  the  European  Powers.  That  also  is  obtainable ; 
for  right  and  fairness  are  obviously  on  our  side, 
if  we  intend  to  impose  similar  charges  on  all 
members  of  the  Customs  Union;  moreover,  Eng- 
land has  long  felt  the  guarantee  undertaken  for 
the  neutrality  of  Luxemburg  to  be  a  wearisome 
burden.  However,  everything  depends  entirely 
on  not  commencing  negotiations  prematurely, 
so  that  the  neutral  Powers  may  not  find  welcome 
occasion  to  interfere  in  the  Franco-German 
negotiations. 

Alsace,  Lorraine,  Luxemburg!  What  wounds 
have  been  inflicted  on  German  life  in  those 
Marches  of  the  Empire  through  the  crimes  of 
long  centuries,  and  how  perseveringly  will  all  the 
healthy  forces  of  the  German  State  be  obliged 
to  bestir  themselves  in  order  to  keep  in  peace 
what  the  sword  has  won !  The  task  seems  almost 
too  heavy  for  this  generation,  which  has  only  just 
rescued  our  Northern  March  from  alien  rulers. 
Still,  what  is  being  accomplished  to-day  is  but  the 
ripe  fruit  of  the  work  of  many  generations.  All 
the  industry,  all  the  honesty  and  active  power,  all 
the  moral  wealth,  which  our  fathers  awoke  anew 
in  the  deteriorated  Fatherland,  will  work  on  our 
side  if  we  now  dare  to  adapt  the  degenerate  sons 


248  Treitschke 

of  our  West  to  German  life;  and  the  best  that 
we  can  achieve  in  peace  can  yet  never  ap- 
proach the  deeds  and  sufferings  of  the  heroes 
who  paid  with  their  blood  for  the  dawn  of  the 
new  times. 


AUSTRIA   AND    THE    GERMAN    EMPIRE. 

HEIDELBERG, 
15 th  Dec.,  1871. 

ONCE  more  Austria  has  emerged  from  a  severe 
ordeal.  The  Hohenwarte  Cabinet  has  re- 
signed ;  the  plans  of  the  Slavs  to  upset  the  rights  and 
the  policy  of  the  Germans  have  been  frustrated,  and 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Magyars  a  Ministry  has 
been  formed  which,  to  say  the  least,  may  be  cred- 
ited with  just  intentions  towards  the  Germans  and 
an  honest  desire  for  the  preservation  of  the  State. 
But  the  cries  of  joy  from  German  breasts  to 
greet  the  deliverance  from  threatening  danger 
are  isolated.  Hitherto,  it  was  customary  that 
our  countrymen  on  the  Danube  in  days  of  stress 
should  lose  faith  in  their  Government  only  to 
regain  confidence  as  soon  as  the  political  clouds 
lifted  again,  and  for  a  long  time  past  we  Germans 
of  the  Empire  have  been  accustomed  to  this 
sudden  change  of  feeling  in  German  Austria,  just 
as  we  are  accustomed  to  laws  of  nature.  For 
the  first  time,  however,  the  old  rule  no  longer 
applies ;  the  news  from  our  Austrian  friends  reads 
gloomier  than  ever,  despite  the  slight  change  for 
the  better  which  has  now  taken  place,  and  the 

249 


250  Treitschke 

question  is  wonderingly  asked  how  in  such  a 
country  reckless  men  are  still  found  ready  to 
accept  a  ministerial  portfolio.  What  a  weird 
spectacle  to  behold! — a  great  empire  whose  own 
people  have  lost  faith  in  themselves.  Let  us 
calmly  examine  these  serious  matters.  It  does 
not  admit  of  doubt  what  we  for  the  sake  of  Ger- 
many wish  for  Austria.  We  German  Unity- 
makers  were  never  the  enemies  of  Austria;  we 
only  contested  the  preponderating  power  which 
Austria  exercised  on  German  and  Italian  soil  to 
the  detriment  of  all  parties.  Now,  having  fought 
victoriously,  we  are  more  in  favour  of  Austria 
than  many  Austrians  themselves.  Nowhere  dur- 
ing the  last  few  weeks  have  so  many  warm  and 
genuine  wishes  been  exchanged  for  the  continu- 
ance of  Austria  as  in  the  lobbies  of  the  German 
Parliament.  Our  Empire's  ambition  must  simply 
be  directed  towards  the  building  up  of  an  inde- 
pendent and  solid  commonwealth  within  our 
boundaries,  which  will  suffice  to  us  all  completely. 
We  have  Italy's  hasty  agitation  for  unity  as  a 
warning  example  before  us,  and  must  not  desire 
to  embody,  in  addition  to  the  strong  centrifugal 
powers  fermenting  in  the  interior  of  Germany  and 
to  the  inhabitants  of  our  Polish,  Danish,  and 
French  frontiers,  yet  another  eight  million  Czechs 
as  our  fellow-citizens.  In  the  days  of  Frederick 
the  Great,  when  ideas  of  a  Slav  Empire  lay  dor- 
mant, it  was  perhaps  not  very  difficult  to  turn 
over  Bohemia  entirely  to  German  ideals.  The  old 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   251 

race-hatred  having,  however,  now  been  aroused 
again  with  terrific  ferocity,  even  the  united  forces 
of  Germany  might  have  to  spend  scores  of  years 
on  this  difficult  and  perhaps  sterile  task,  should  we 
ever  step  into  the  sad  heritage  of  the  Hapsburgs. 
We  already  have  more  than  enough  ultramontane 
enemies  of  the  Empire,  and  we  will  keep  them  in 
check ;  our  Empire  is,  however,  well  balanced  only 
because  of  the  preponderance  of  Protestants.  We 
should  commit  a  crime  against  the  future  liberty 
of  thought  were  we  to  contemplate  absorbing 
fourteen  million  Catholics.  Germany  longs  for 
peace;  the  vapourings  of  the  democracy  regarding 
the  war-fanaticism  of  our  Government  are  lying 
statements,  disbelieved  even  by  their  originators. 
The  collapse  of  Austria,  however,  would  mean  an 
upheaval  unexampled  in  history,  which  would 
embroil  us  in  endless  wars  and  threaten  to  destroy 
the  development  of  a  peaceful  policy  for  a  long 
time  to  come. 

We  Germans  have  never  understood  the  prin- 
ciple of  nationality  in  the  crude  and  overbearing 
sense  that  all  German-speaking  Europeans  must 
belong  to  our  Empire.  We  consider  it  a  boon  for 
the  peaceful  intercourse  of  the  world  that  the 
boundaries  of  nations  are  not  engraved  with  a 
knife  in  the  shell  of  the  earth,  that  millions  of 
French  live  outside  France,  and  outside  the  Ger- 
man Empire  millions  of  Germans.  If  the  present- 
day  situation  in  Middle  Europe  consolidates,  if 
in  the  middle  of  the  Continent  there  are  two  great 


252  Treitschke 

Empires,  the  one  uniform  and  purely  German,  the 
other  Catholic  and  polyglot,  yet  permeated  by 
German  ideas — who  will  contend  that  such  a  state 
of  affairs  is  humiliating  to  German  national  pride? 
More  magnificent  and  more  brilliant  than  the  day 
of  Koniggratz  shines  the  glory  of  Sedan;  but  the 
firm  basis  of  our  power  to-day,  the  creative 
thoughts  of  a  new  German  policy  have  been  engen- 
dered by  the  blessings  of  1866.  "Down  with 
Austria,"  was  then  our  battle-cry,  and  Germany 
breathed  as  if  freed  from  a  nightmare  when  we 
separated  from  Austria.  Every  day  of  German 
history  has  proved  since  then  that  this  separation 
was  a  necessity,  and  that  only  through  it  we  have 
found  ourselves  again.  In  order  to  satisfy  un- 
bridled greed  are  we  to  demolish  again  the  struc- 
ture of  1866,  the  foundations  of  our  Empire? 
Are  we  to  discard  like  old  rubbish  that  rich  treasure 
of  historic-political  importance  amassed  during 
half  a  century  by  our  serious  thinkers  as  common 
property  of  the  Germans  solely  because  our 
countrymen  in  Austria  do  not  immediately  succeed 
in  adjusting  themselves  to  the  new  order  of  things? 
Not  an  inch  of  land  was  taken  by  the  victor  of 
1866  from  the  vanquished;  such  moderation  not 
only  arose  from  the  desire  to  reconcile  the  adver- 
sary, it  was  also  clearly  evident  that  those  Austrian 
provinces  which  were  for  four  centuries  estranged 
from  German  life  and  interdependent  through 
political  ties,  as  well  as  through  mutual  commercial 
interests,  have  a  good  right  to  stand  side  by  side 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   253 

independently  with  Germany.  Austrian  pessi- 
mists might  give  as  an  example  Moscow  and 
Warsaw.  The  opinion  that  the  capital  on  the 
Danube  is  to  become  a  German  provincial  town 
is  ridiculed  as  ludicrous  in  sober- thinking  Berlin. 
The  German  idealists  of  the  Danube  speak  lightly 
of  the  disruption  of  Austria  as  if  a  Great  Power 
could  easily  be  annihilated;  we  but  ask  what  is  to 
become  of  the  territories  of  the  Crown  of  St. 
Stephen  after  the  collapse  of  the  monarchy,  and, 
unable  to  find  a  satisfactory  reply,  we  desire  the 
continuance  of  Austria  as  a  Power. 

The  dualism  which  so  often  is  depicted  as  the 
beginning  of  the  end  appears  to  us  in  a  different 
light.  The  agreement  of  1867  has  not  exactly 
created  a  new  state  of  affairs,  but  merely  recon- 
nected the  thoughts  of  the  only  Austrian  sovereign 
who  intelligently  and  successfully  understood  the 
handling  of  internal  reforms.  To  leave  the  lands 
of  the  Hungarian  Crown  under  their  former  con- 
stitution, and  to  form  the  Crown  lands  of  the  west 
into  one  political  unit,  were  the  plans  formerly  of 
Maria  Theresa.  It  is  due  to  Deak  that  this  long- 
forgotten  policy  has  been  renewed  in  modern  form. 
Our  political  pride  may  revolt,  yet  we  cannot  think 
it  unnatural  that  Hungarians  have  finally  assumed 
political  direction  in  the  dual  Empire.  Those 
six  million  Magyars,  together  with  the  two  million 
Hungarian-Germans  who  obey  the  former  almost 
blindly,  form  the  biggest  political  entity  of  the 
Empire.  They  have  the  firm  legal  basis  of  an  old 


254  Treitschke 

historic  constitution — an  immense  advantage  in 
comparison  with  the  chaotic  conditions  of  public 
law  in  Cisleithania.  They  alone  amongst  the 
people  of  Austria  have  conquered  freedom  by 
dint  of  hard  work;  they  surpass  all  others  in 
political  training  and  experience.  Thus  historic 
necessity  has  finally  brought  it  about  that  for  the 
present  only  a  Hungarian  Prime  Minister  is 
possible.  We  shall  not  be  expected  to  throw  a 
stone  at  the  deposed  Count  Beust.  The  most 
spiteful  remarks  which  could  be  made  about  him 
are  at  the  outset  silenced  by  his  charmingly 
ingenious  eulogies,  which,  in  the  style  of  the  Duke 
of  Coburg,  he  himself  has  made  regarding  his  own 
importance.  Credit  is  due  to  him  for  having 
recognized  the  moment  when  it  was  in  the  interest 
of  the  Crown  to  submit  to  the  conditions  of  the 
Hungarians.  In  all  other  matters  he  displayed 
as  Imperial  and  Royal  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer 
exactly  the  same  lack  of  tact  and  foresight  which 
in  times  gone  by  we  admired  in  the  diplomatic 
faiseur  of  "Pure  Germany."  Everything  in  poli- 
tics turned  out  with  regularity  differently  to 
what  he  anticipated.  The  neutrality  of  Austria 
during  the  last  war  was  not  due  to  him  but  to  our 
quick  successes,  to  the  bad  condition  of  the  Austrian 
army,  to  the  threats  of  Russia,  the  bravery  of  the 
German-Austrians,  and  the  clearheadedness  of 
Count  Andrassy.  It  was  an  admission  of  weak- 
ness on  the  part  of  Austria  that  a  State  ailing 
from  severe  moral  troubles  should  have  for  its 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   255 

salvation  called  upon  such  a  frivolous  man,  who 
never  claimed  to  possess  the  moral  seriousness 
of  a  reformer;  and  it  is  perhaps  still  more  regret- 
table that  many  an  honest  citizen  to-day  waxes 
bitter  in  his  outcry  against  the  fallen  dignitary 
after  having  for  five  years  been  an  eye-witness  of 
his  debaucheries.  Count  Andrassy  has  at  any 
rate  this  advantage  over  his  predecessor,  that  he 
believes  in  himself  and  in  his  cause.  He  is  an 
honest  Hungarian  patriot,  and  therefore  must  try 
to  maintain  the  State  in  its  entirety,  as  Hungary 
is  not  yet  powerful  enough  to  exist  without  German 
Austria.  He  must  also  defend  the  Constitution 
of  Cisleithania,  as  it  is  only  with  constitutional 
Cisleithania  that  constitutional  Hungary  has 
come  to  a  settlement.  He  never  recognized  the 
Concordat  for  Hungary  although  it  existed  in 
Cisleithania,  and  for  that  reason  alone  he  is  the 
enemy  of  the  Ultramontanes  and  the  Feudalists. 
He  cannot  favour  federalism,  because  Hungary 
prefers  discussing  mutual  Imperial  affairs  with 
the  delegates  of  Parliament  instead  of  with 
seventeen  Diets.  Besides,  federalism  in  Bohemia, 
Moravia,  and  Krain  would  inevitably  throw  the 
Germans  under  the  yoke  of  the  Slavs;  Hungary, 
however,  can  make  herself  easier  understood  by 
the  Germans  than  by  the  Czechs.  Count  Andrassy 
solemnly  assures  us  of  his  love  for  peace,  and  we 
have  no  reason  to  mistrust  him.  The  weakness  of 
Hungarian  politics  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  mental 
and  economical  development  of  the  leading  half 


256  Treitschke 

of  the  Monarchy  is  vastly  inferior  to  that  of 
Cisleithania.  Only  by  continued  and  peaceful 
efforts  may  Hungary  expect  to  somewhat  adjust 
this  proportion.  A  Magyar  at  the  head  of  Austrian 
affairs  should  therefore  wish  for  peace  if  he  honestly 
desires  that  his  country  shall  retain  the  leadership 
within  the  Monarchy. 

It  is  true  that  Austrian  public  authority  assumes 
peculiar  and  complex  forms.  In  Transleithania 
a  Parliament  of  two  Houses  and  the  Croatian  Diet ; 
in  Cisleithania  a  Parliament  of  two  houses  and 
seventeen  Diets;  for  both  halves  of  the  Monarchy 
delegations  with  two  divisions — altogether  twenty- 
one  Parliaments  with  twenty-four  Houses.  But 
these  complicated  forms  are  only  the  true  reflection 
of  the  variegated  ethnographical  and  historic 
conditions  of  the  whole  State,  and  does  not  our 
own  Imperial  State  teach  us  that  even  amongst 
complicated  institutions  a  healthy  political  life 
may  prosper?  Still,  it  does  not  appear  quite 
impossible  that  an  intelligent  plan  may  be  adopted 
which  the  best  heads  of  German-Austria  have 
conceived  unfortunately  only  very  late  in  the  day. 
If  the  Germans  in  Cisleithania  are  desirous  of 
obtaining  predominance,  which  by  rights  is  due 
to  them,  this  overloaded  body  must  be  freed  of 
some  heterogeneous  members.  Dalmatia,  by  vir- 
tue of  her  geographical  position  as  well  as  by 
virtue  of  her  interests,  belongs  to  the  eastern  half 
of  the  Monarchy;  the  "triune  Illyrian  Kingdom" 
longed  for  by  the  Slavs  of  the  South  in  1848  may 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire  257 

materialize  and  gain  vitality  if  that  South  Slav 
State  decides  to  recognize  the  supremacy  of  the 
Crown  of  St.  Stephen ;  Galicia,  on  the  other  hand, 
justly  claims  independence  by  the  side  of  Cislei- 
thania,  in  the  same  way  as  Croatia  by  the  side  of 
Hungaria.  If  this  separation  were  successful, 
and  at  the  same  time  direct  parliamentary  elec- 
tions were  introduced,  German  Austria,  as  a 
country  with  fourteen  million  inhabitants  and  an 
adjoining  country  of  about  six  millions,  would 
face  sixteen  millions  of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen, 
and  the  German  element  could  retain  the  upper 
hand  in  Parliament. 

We  in  Germany  are  willing  to  remain  on  good 
terms  with  Austria  as  long  as  Count  Andrassy 
does  not  depart  from  his  peaceful  programme. 
The  old  feud  is  honestly  fought  out,  and  in  to-day's 
conditions  of  Austria  there  are  at  present  only 
two  questions  which  might  possibly  compel  us 
to  terminate  friendly  relations  with  the  Empire. 
If  the  Magyars  misuse  their  power  and  upset  the 
German  tendencies  of  the  Suabians  in  Hungary, 
or  even  those  of  the  Transylvanian  Saxons,  the 
best  German  race  in  the  south-east,  the  friendly 
tendency  in  Germany  will  rapidly  disappear. 
Our  national  pride  has,  God  be  praised,  become 
more  sensitive  to-day,  and  we  all  feel  that  our 
Empire  cannot  silently  put  up  with  acts  of  violence 
against  our  own  flesh  and  blood.  The  alliance 
which  for  centuries  has  united  the  Hapsburgs  with 
the  Polish  Republic  is  still  operative.  During  the 

17 


258  Treitschke 

last  ten  years  Austria  has  given  free  rein  to  the 
Polish  "Junkerdom,"  and  for  the  Poles  Galicia 
is  the  stronghold  of  their  nationality.  If  Galicians 
obtain  the  desired  autonomy,  Polish  liberty  will 
quickly  show  its  true  colours,  and  will  reveal  itself 
in  overbearing  tyranny  against  all  non-Poles. 
The  principle  of  nationality  which  represents 
to-day  the  forlorn  hope  of  the  Poles,  has  not  been 
so  shamelessly  trampled  upon  by  any  nation  in 
Europe  as  by  the  Poles  in  the  days  of  their  good 
fortune.  In  Cracow  the  last  German  professors 
of  the  University  have  already  been  sent  away, 
and  the  old  German  college  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
Poles.  Soon  perhaps  the  Jews  of  Kasimierz  will 
be  the  sole  representatives  of  Germany  in  the  old 
town,  which  owes  its  existence  to  the  Germans. 
Soon  enough,  also,  the  Ruthenian  eastern  half  of 
the  country  will  have  tales  to  tell  of  the  atrocities 
of  Polish  Junkers  and  of  the  clergy.  All  this  does 
not  touch  us  immediately.  West  Prussia  is  pre- 
paring to  gratefully  celebrate  next  summer  the 
centenary  of  the  first  division  of  Poland ;  in  Posen, 
likewise,  German  culture  and  German  develop- 
ment is  making  progress ;  the  Posen  peasant  knows 
that  his  position  under  Polish  nobility  was  in- 
comparably harder  than  under  the  present-day 
Prussian  sceptre.  In  this  district  we  are  immune 
from  any  rising,  provided  no  artificial  agitation 
is  introduced  from  without.  But  moderation  is 
not  to  be  expected  from  the  hereditary  political 
incapacity  of  the  Polish  Junkers.  Once  masters  of 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   259 

Galicia  this  province  will  be  the  heart  of  busy 
Polish  propaganda,  and  the  frantic  cry,  "Ancient 
Poland  down  to  the  green  bridge  of  Konigsberg" 
may  soon  be  heard  again.  Thus  Austria's  Polish 
policy  cements  the  friendship  between  Prussia  and 
Russia,  the  old  faithful  allies,  and  prevents  us  follow- 
ing unsuspiciously  the  Danube  Empire's  measures. 
As  long,  however,  as  our  Polish  possessions  are 
not  endangered,  Germany  is  willing  to  extend 
benevolent  sentiments  to  her  neighbour,  an  honest 
intention  which  does  not  lose  its  value  because  it 
is  expressed  without  sentimental  tenderness.  A 
State  like  Austria  cannot  exact  affection  from 
independent  people.  Our  interests  induce  us  to 
desire  the  continuance  of  the  Empire  of  the  Loth- 
rings,  and  these  interests  form  the  closest  tie 
between  the  States.  But  are  our  devout  wishes 
a  power  strong  enough  to  face  fate  ?  Who  amongst 
us  desired  the  recent  war?  Nobody;  and  yet 
inexorable  fate  dragged  us  into  it.  The  mutual 
interests  of  neighbouring  Powers  may  afford  a 
small  State  an  unjustified  existence  for  centuries; 
a  big  Power,  however,  cannot  exist  if  it  lacks 
vitality,  and  if  it  does  not  appear  as  a  blessing, 
or  at  any  rate  as  a  necessity  to  its  own  people. 
Were  we  to  ask  such  questions  regarding  Austria, 
innumerable  apprehensions  and  considerations 
present  themselves.  The  most  confident  can 
to-day  only  say  it  is  possible  that  Austria  may  keep 
together;  but  all  the  foundations  of  that  State 
belong  to  a  period  of  the  past. 


26o  Treitschke 

When  Austria  lost  her  unnatural  power  over 
Germany  and  Italy,  many  hopeful  prophecies  were 
expressed  that  the  Empire  on  the  Danube  would 
rejuvenate  and  breathe  freely  again,  like  the 
Prussian  State  after  having  renounced  Warsaw. 
Exactly  the  contrary  has  happened.  Austria's 
worries  have  incessantly  increased  since  1866. 
By  withdrawing  from  foreign  territory  she  has  not 
found  herself  again,  but  abandoned  her  old  historic 
character.  Ever  since  its  existence,  the  aims  of 
the  Austrian  Empire  were  exclusively  directed  to 
European  politics.  An  internal  reign  taken  as  a 
whole  did  not  exist  at  all.  Once  the  creed  of  unity 
was  established,  the  Crown  allowed  everything  to 
go  as  it  did,  and  was  satisfied  when  its  people 
silently  obeyed.  Hardly  ever  has  the  House  of 
Hapsburg-Lothring  bestowed  a  thought  upon 
improving  her  administrative  machinery,  the 
furtherance  of  the  people's  welfare,  popular  educa- 
tion, and  upon  all  the  seemingly  insignificant 
tasks  of  internal  politics  which  to  other  countries 
are  of  cardinal  importance;  only  Maria  Theresa 
and  Joseph  II  realized  the  seriousness  of  their 
duties.  To-day,  however,  humbled  and  weakened, 
hardly  able  to  maintain  the  position  of  a  big 
Power,  Austria  finds  herself  compelled  to  recon- 
sider her  ways.  External  politics  which  formerly 
meant  to  her  everything  have  now  lost  import- 
ance; the  whole  country's  powers  are  invoked  to 
repair  the  internal  damage,  and  whilst  the  "Hof- 
burg"  (the  Imperial  Palace),  although  unwillingly, 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   261 

is  compelled  to  expiate  the  sins  of  neglect  of  many 
centuries,  the  question  is  asked,  with  steadily 
growing  insistence,  whether  this  age  of  national 
State  formations  still  has  room  left  for  an  Empire 
which  lacks  national  stamina. 

Undoubtedly  the  natural  form  of  government 
for  such  a  conglomerate  Empire  is  absolutism. 
An  independent  monarch  may  maintain  a  neutral 
attitude  over  his  quarrelling  people;  he  may  in 
happy  days  lull  his  country  into  comfortable 
slumber  in  order  to  play  one  nation  against  the 
other  in  time  of  need;  but  these  old  tricks  have 
long  ceased  to  be  effective.  In  every  conceivable 
form  absolutism  has  been  tried  by  the  "Hofburg," 
only  to  finally  prove  its  complete  all-round  ineffi- 
cacy.  Cisleithania's  population  owes  its  consti- 
tution to  the  failure  of  absolutism,  and  not  to  its 
own  strength.  To  us  Germans  of  the  Empire 
it  was  clear  beforehand  that  liberty  bestowed  in 
this  way  could  thrive  but  slowly,  and  only  after 
severe  relapses.  True,  some  democratic  dunces 
in  Berlin  formerly  applauded  the  juggling  tricks 
of  the  "People's  cabinet,"  and  have  claimed  for 
Prussia  "liberty  as  in  Austria."  But  all  sensible 
people  in  Germany  find  it  natural  that  the  consti- 
tution in  Austria  so  far  has  caused  only  venomous, 
complicated,  and  barren  party  quarrels.  More 
serious  than  the  infantine  diseases  of  constitu- 
tionalism seems  the  terrible  growth  of  race-hatred. 
Here,  as  elsewhere,  parliamentarism  has  accen- 
tuated national  contrasts.  As  Schleswig-Holstein 


262  Treitschke 

experienced  it  with  the  Danes,  so  Austria  experi- 
ences it  now,  that  free  people  learn  far  more  slowly 
than  legitimate  Courts  the  virtue  of  political  toler- 
ance and  self-restraint.  As  was  to  be  expected 
of  the  Hapsburg-Lothrings,  the  constitutional  Im- 
perial Crown  has  remained  thoroughly  despotic 
in  sentiment.  As  yet  none  of  the  innumerable 
ministers  of  the  present  Emperor  have  in  reality 
guided  the  country.  '  Count  Beust  could  be  par- 
doned everything  except  popular  favour,  which 
was  his  main  support.  The  just  plaint  of  the 
Germans  who  are  true  to  the  constitution  is  that 
"mysterious  forces" — a  deeply  veiled  Camarilla 
of  subaltern  bureaucrats  and  ultramontane  noble- 
men— dominate  the  Court,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
abolition  of  the  Concordat,  the  relations  between 
the  "Hofburg"  and  the  Roman  Curia  have  not 
come  to  an  end.  Since  Austria's  withdrawal 
from  the  German  alliance  the  house  of  the  Loth- 
rings,  now  fatherless,  has  no  further  inducement 
to  favour  the  Germans,  and  the  Court  already 
displays  marked  coolness  towards  German  ideals. 
The  spokesmen  of  the  Germans  are  men  of  the 
Liberal  Party,  who  in  their  dealings  with  the 
Crown  have  unfortunately  displayed  clumsy 
ignorance  about  constitutional  doctrine.  The 
Magyars  show  chivalrous  respect  for  the  wearer 
of  the  Crown  of  St.  Stephen,  and  the  Court  com- 
mences to  feel  comfortable  in  Budapest.  The 
feudal  leaders  of  the  Slavs  conscientiously  display 
their  dynastic  tendencies;  the  German  Ministers, 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   263 

however,  behave  as  if  the  Emperor  were  really 
the  only  fifth  wheel  of  the  cart  after  Rotteck  and 
Welcker,  and  in  the  lower  Austrian  Diet  Liberal 
passion  recently  descended  to  most  unseemly 
remarks  against  the  Imperial  family.  Does  Vienna 
not  remember  that  the  Hapsburgs  never  forget? 
Thus  the  ties  between  the  Crown  and  the  Germans 
are  loosening. 

The  Army  is  no  longer  an  absolutely  reliable 
support  of  the  State,  because  it  has  undoubtedly 
lost  in  quality  since  the  day  of  Koniggratz.  A 
State  which  resembles  the  "Wallenstein  Camp" 
can  gain  great  victories  only  by  means  of  homeless 
mercenary  troops.  Any  improvement  of  modern 
warfare  impairs  the  fighting  capacity  of  Austria. 
The  more  the  moral  element  commences  to  enter 
into  the  calculations  of  war  the  more  the  cruelty 
of  the  private  soldier  and  the  deep-laid  mistrust 
which  separates  Slav  troops  from  their  German 
officers  will  give  rise  to  apprehension.  The  custom- 
ary foolery  about  clothing,  which  has  finally 
led  to  concocting  for  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Ar- 
mies the  ugliest  uniform  in  the  universe,  makes 
just  as  little  for  the  fitness  of  the  forces  as  the 
improvement  of  weapons.  The  introduction  of 
compulsory  military  service,  which  can  serve  a 
useful  purpose  only  in  a  national  State,  was  in 
Austria  a  thoughtless  precipitation ;  for  the  moment 
it  has  disorganized  discipline,  and  it  is  question- 
able whether  the  future  will  show  better  results. 
German  students,  Polish  noblemen,  fanatical 


264  Treitschke 

Czechs,  join  the  ranks  of  the  volunteers  and  are 
promoted  to  officers'  rank  in  the  militia;  but  this 
new  corps  of  officers  does  not  invariably,  as  of 
yore,  seek  its  home  under  the  black  and  yellow 
standard.  The  militiaman  acquires  at  home  all 
the  prejudices  of  race-hatred;  the  Hungarian 
"honveds"  are  certainly  brave  soldiers,  but  equally 
surely  cannot  be  led  against  an  enemy.  The 
young  noblemen  who  formerly  gladly  gathered 
round  the  Imperial  Standard  now  stay  away,  and 
race-hatred  impairs  comradeship.  The  officers 
of  the  German  Army  at  times  glance  critically  at 
the  history  of  Austria's  military  forces,  who,  with 
rare  exceptions,  have  for  130  years  always  fought 
bravely  and — unsuccessfully;  and  they  compare 
the  days  of  Metz  and  Sedan  with  the  hopeless 
campaign  against  the  Bochese.  The  old  remedy 
of  hard-pressed  Hapsburgs — a  state  of  siege — 
promises  but  scant  success  for  an  army  thus 
constituted. 

In  addition  thereto,  are  public  functionaries  of 
generally  very  inferior  education,  whose  corruption 
does  not  admit  of  doubt,  servile  and  yet  always 
argumentative ;  we  refer  to  the  Czech  bureaucracy, 
indescribably  hated  and  despised  by  Germans  and 
Hungarians  alike.  In  the  Church  there  is  a 
strictly  Roman  party  with  very  well  meaning  but 
also  very  vague  Old-Catholic  aspirations,  and  there 
exists  widely  diffused  a  shallow  frivolity  which 
derides  as  Prussian  hypocrisy  all  agitations  for 
moral  seriousness.  In  the  same  way  the  quondam 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   265 

much-talked-of  inexhaustible  resources  of  the 
Danube  Empire  prove  to-day  a  pleasant  fairy 
tale.  An  Exchequer,  which  has  twice  within 
ninety  years  covered  yearly  expenditure  by  regular 
receipts,  and  has  now  again  just  weathered  veiled 
bankruptcy — such  incredible  financial  mismanage- 
ment has  not  only  destroyed  the  private  fortunes 
of  thousands;  it  has  also  largely  stimulated  the 
habit  of  gambling  and  of  prodigality.  In  nearly 
all  the  Crown  lands  of  Cisleithania  agriculture 
lacks  a  body  of  educated  middle-class  farmers; 
it  is  the  link  between  farms  and  the  vast  estates 
of  noblemen  which  is  missing.  The  development 
of  industry  is  similarly  handicapped.  Whilst  in 
most  provinces  trade  and  commerce  are  in  their 
infancy,  Vienna  is  agitated  by  feverishly-excited 
speculation.  For  ever  so  long  the  Vienna  Stock 
Exchange  has  drawn  the  "smart  set "  into  its  circle. 
Pools  and  syndicates  carry  on  the  organized 
swindle,  and  the  small  man  is  also  dragged  into 
the  turmoil  by  innumerable  commission  houses. 
The  magnificent  capital  is  of  course  a  grand  cen- 
tre for  every  kind  of  intercourse,  but  its  corrup- 
tion reacts  detrimentally  upon  the  commonwealth. 
The  bulk  of  the  citizens  are  still  healthy  and  capa- 
ble, but  amongst  the  always  immoral  masses  of 
the  metropolisan  impudent  socialism  is  to-day  at 
work,  which  derides  the  spirit  of  the  Fatherland  as 
reactionary,  and  amongst  all  the  races  of  Austria 
most  vehemently  attacks  the  Germans  as  "bour- 
geois." Of  the  moral  conditions  of  the  upper 


266  Treitschke 

classes,  and  particularly  of  Stock  Exchange  circles, 
the  Vienna  newspapers,  which  are  closely  allied 
with  the  latter,  give  ample  testimony.  Vienna 
journalism,  although  highly  developed,  is,  on  the 
whole,  the  most  immoral  press  of  Europe — Paris 
by  no  means  excluded.  The  German  party  in 
Vienna  is  about  to  initiate  the  Deutsche  Zeitung, 
because  an  honest  party  cannot  rely  upon  the 
existing  big  German  newspapers.  All  these  power- 
ful journals  are  nothing  else,  and  do  not  pretend 
to  be  anything  else,  than  industrial  undertakings, 
and  a  smile  of  compassion  would  greet  those  who 
were  to  speak  to  those  literary  speculators  about 
political  tendencies.  By  the  side  of  the  big  organs 
of  the  Stock  Exchange  jobbers,  there  is  a  huge 
crowd  of  dirty  halfpenny  rags,  which  live  on 
extortion  and  journalistic  piracy,  for  in  this  frivo- 
lous town  there  are  many  with  a  bad  conscience, 
and  liberal  payments  are  made  to  stop  the  slander- 
ous tongue  of  the  blackmailer.  Since  the  first 
happy  days  of  Emperor  Francis  Joseph,  when 
court-martials  condemned  to  death,  New  Austria 
has  attempted  nearly  every  imaginable  political 
system  ;  such  a  sudden  change  is  bound  to  unsettle 
the  sense  of  justice  and  the  people's  opinions  re- 
specting their  country.  The  views  of  the  Ger- 
man-Austrian pessimists  are  very  unpalatable  to 
Germans  in  the  Empire,  as  they  cross  our  political 
calculations.  But  let  us  also  be  just,  and  let  us  try 
to  place  ourselves  in  the  position  of  a  warm-hearted, 
scientifically-educated  young  German-Austrian. 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   267 

Why  in  the  world  should  this  man  love  his  country 
in  its  entirety?  Ancient  faith,  force  of  habit,  fear 
of  the  uncertain  future  and  of  radical  changes,  all 
these  considerations  retain  him  within  Austrian 
boundaries;  but  to  rejoice  his  heart,  he  casts  his 
eyes  northwards,  where  he  beholds  his  country- 
men in  a  respected,  mighty  Empire,  in  a  well- 
secured  national  commonwealth,  with  orderly 
economic  conditions,  and  he  perceives  them  in 
every  respect  happier  than  he  is  himself.  He  hates 
the  "rugged  Caryatid-heads  of  the  servile  classes, " 
as  Hebbel,  amid  great  cheers,  once  said  of  the 
German-Austrians,  and  above  all  he  hates  the 
Czechs.  To  keep  this  slavedom  in  subordination 
and  to  shield  the  best  he  calls  his  own,  i.e.,  German 
thought  and  German  sentiment,  from  the  aggres- 
sive waves  of  barbarism  he  looks  to  the  Empire 
for  protection.  We  seriously  point  out  to  him 
the  much-praised  "colonizing  vocation"  of  Ger- 
manism in  Austria.  He,  however,  borrows  from 
the  rich  treasure  of  the  Imperial  and  Royal  bureau- 
cratic language  a  beautiful  phrase,  and  bitterly 
suggests  that  this  calling  has  now  gradually  become 
obsolete  ("in  Verstoss  gekommen ") .  In  Hungary, 
in  Bohemia,  in  Cracow,  in  the  Tyrol,  everywhere 
Germanism  is  retrograding,  and  everywhere  it  is 
proved  that  the  atmosphere  of  the  Hapsburg  rule 
is  detrimental  to  German  nationalism.  He  com- 
plains that,  "Centuries  ago  the  liberty  of  German 
faith  was  wrested  from  us,  clerical  pressure  weighs 
upon  the  soul  of  the  people,  and  we  have  not 


268  Treitschke 

sufficient  iron  left  in  our  blood  to  protect  ourselves 
against  the  numerical  majority  of  foreigners." 
He  tells  us  of  the  political  leaders  of  his  race,  how 
they  are  nearly  all  done  for  and  worn  out,  many 
of  them  ill-famed  for  being  deserters,  sellers  of 
titles,  or  promoters.  Then  he  asks  whether  it 
behooves  Germans  to  be  governed  by  Hungarians 
after  the  dicta  of  Magyar  policy,  and  confidently 
finishes  up  thus :  "Certainly  Austria  is  a  European 
necessity,  but  the  Austria  of  the  future  borders  in 
the  west  on  the  Leitha,  and  we  Germans  belong 
to  you. "  We  give  him  to  reflect  that  after  all  it 
is  an  honour  to  belong  to  Austria,  that  ancient 
mighty  Power,  whereupon  he  shrugs  his  shoulders. 
"Times  of  the  past,"  he  says.  "When  recently 
Count  Hohenwarte  spoke  to  us  of  the  real  Austrian 
nationality  he  was  greeted  by  peals  of  derisive 
laughter  on  the  part  of  the  Germans.  We  remind 
him  of  the  Oriental  mission  once  entrusted  by 
Prince  Eugene  to  the  realm  on  the  Danube. 
Drily  he  replies:  'A  State  which  can  hardly  stand 
on  its  own  legs  will  still  less  be  able  to  subdue 
foreign  people,  especially  when  violently  hated  by 
them."' 

After  the  first  great  defeat  of  New  Austria  at  the 
battle  of  Solferino,  Austrian  Germanism  began 
to  awake  from  its  deep  slumber.  Notably  in  the 
universities  a  more  active  national  sentiment 
developed,  and  we  subsequently  witnessed  the 
realization  of  what  we  German  patriots  always 
anticipated,  i.e.,  that  Austria's  exodus  from  the 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   269 

German  Alliance  would  greatly  enliven  and 
strengthen  the  mental  intercourse  between  us  and 
the  Germans  on  the  Danube.  Never  before  has 
our  political  work  met  with  such  friendly  reception 
amongst  the  Austrians  as  amongst  the  German 
nationalists  of  Graz  and  Vienna  to-day.  We 
heartily  apologize  for  the  severe  injustice  done 
years  ago  to  the  German  "Gothasrn";  nothing  is 
more  touching  than  the  youthful  and  amiable 
enthusiasm  which  these  circles  harbour  for  our 
new  Empire ;  nowhere  has  Prussia  warmer  friends. 
From  the  bottom  of  our  heart  we  wish  that  the 
noble  German  national  pride,  the  healthy  political 
intellect  of  this  party,  may  display  all  its  energy 
in  the  perfecting  of  the  Cisleithanian  constitution. 
The  German-Austrian  who  greets  every  short- 
coming of  his  country  with  a  jubilant  "Always 
livelier  and  livelier"  does  not  assist  Germany  in 
her  great  object;  she  has  only  use  for  the  active 
man  who  works  physically  and  mentally  in  order 
to  procure  for  the  Germans  the  leadership  in 
Cisleithania.  The  German  national  pride  in 
Austria  is  a  child  of  woe;  it  has  invariably  been 
aroused  by  the  defeats  of  the  monarchy,  and  at 
each  fresh  awakening  it  has  given  proof  of  greater 
power.  Up  till  now  only  a  small  portion  of  the 
German-Austrians  evinces  strong  German  national 
sentiment ;  the  history  of  the  recent  war  shows  to 
what  extent.  The  thinking  middle  classes  fol- 
lowed our  battles  with  a  hearty  and  active  interest 
never  to  be  forgotten,  and  the  brave  German  peas- 


270  Treitschke 

ants  in  the  Alps  likewise  recollected  their  heroic 
wars  against  the  Wallachs.  The  high  nobility,  how- 
ever, and  the  masses  in  the  towns  persevered  in  the 
old  hatred  against  Prussia.  The  small  gentry  of 
Imperial  and  Royal  licensed  coffee-house  keepers 
and  tobacconists  doted  on  the  French  Republic. 
As  always  in  Austria,  the  big  financial  interests 
gave  proof  of  their  unprincipled  meanness,  and 
insufficient  attention  has  been  paid  in  Germany  to 
the  great  dispatch  of  arms  which  went  from  Vienna 
via  Trieste  to  France.  German  national  sentiment, 
however,  is  visibly  in  the  ascendant,  and  it  grows 
daily  on  beholding  the  new  German  Empire. 
National  pride  and  hatred  permeate,  so  to  say, 
the  atmosphere  of  this  unlucky  State,  whose  future 
entirely  depends  upon  the  reconciliation  of  national 
interests.  The  growing  hatred  against  the  Slavs 
may  by  and  by  press  the  broad  masses  of  German 
population  into  the  ranks  of  the  German  nation- 
alists, and  unless  fairly  well-regulated  constitu- 
tional life  can  be  established  in  the  near  future  in 
Cisleithania  the  Germans  might  finally  also  realize 
that  their  nationality  is  dearer  to  them  than  their 
Government. 

Closer  ties  attach  the  greater  part  of  the  Slavs 
to  the  Austrian  Monarchy.  When  from  the 
distance  we  hear  only  the  uncouth  blustering  of 
Czech  fanaticism,  when  we  listen  to  the  assurances 
of  German  scientists  in  Prague,  that  a  Czech 
university  by  the  side  of  a  German  one  is  at  any 
rate  more  endurable  than  a  university  with  mixed 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   271 

languages,  which  must  infallibly  lead  to  the  de- 
struction of  Germanism  in  Bohemia;  when  we 
thus  behold  the  battle  of  the  elements  in  the 
territories  of  the  Crown  of  Wenceslaus,  we  are  apt 
to  think  that  such  blind  national  hatred  would 
not  shrink  from  the  destruction  of  Austria.  On 
closer  examination,  however,  secret  fear  and  a 
singular  cowardice  are  easily  detected,  which  hide 
behind  the  uproar  of  the  Czechs.  They  are  noisy, 
they  bluster  and  twist  the  law,  but  they  do  not 
dare  to  start  war.  In  the  midst  of  their  roarings 
they  feel  that  they  cannot  dispense  with  the 
Monarchy  because,  unlike  the  Germans,  no  home 
is  open  to  them  outside  Austria.  Not  even  the 
hotheads  dare  count  with  certainty  upon  the 
fulfilment  of  Pan-slavist  dreams,  and  that  is  why 
for  the  time  being  the  autonomous  crown  of 
Wenceslaus  or  the  division  of  Cisleithania  into 
five  groups  united  by  federalism  suffices  for  them. 
The  tameness  of  the  Czechs  is,  however,  not  due 
to  honest  intentions,  but  to  the  consciousness  of 
weakness,  which  can  and  will  change  as  soon  as 
Czechdom  finds  support  in  a  great  Slav  power, 
and  it  is  already  patent  that  the  Poles  regard 
Galician  autonomy  only  as  the  first  step  towards 
the  re-establishment  of  the  Empire  of  the  Sarmats. 
Amongst  all  the  nations  of  Austria  the  Magyars 
must  to-day  display  the  greatest  energy  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  Monarchy.  The  newly-estab- 
lished Crown  needs  Cisleithanian  support;  those 
people,  with  their  lively  ancestral  recollections, 


272  Treitschke 

know  only  too  well  how  often  Austria  and  Hungary 
have  mutually  saved  each  other.  The  convention 
was  in  every  respect  vastly  in  favour  of  the  Mag- 
yars. Hungary  contributes  thirty  per  cent,  to- 
wards the  general  expenditure  of  the  Monarch 
and  to  the  payment  of  interest  on  the  debt  of  the 
country ;  if  closely  calculated  it  will  be  found  to  be 
even  less.  And  in  spite  of  all,  the  Magyars  cannot 
overcome  the  old  mistrust  of  the  "Hofburg"; 
the  tribunals  of  Eperies  and  Arad  can  no  more  sink 
into  oblivion  than  the  impudence  of  the  "Bach" 
Hussars.  In  Parliament  a  strong  and  growing 
Opposition  has  aims  beyond  the  convention,  and 
it  appears  full  of  danger  that  this  Opposition 
consists  almost  exclusively  of  pure  Magyar  blood. 
The  delegate  "Nemeth"  recently  offered  his 
solemn  congratulations  in  Parliament  to  the 
German-Austrians  on  the  impending  union  with 
their  German  brothers.  Should  disorder  continue 
to  reign  in  Cisleithania  less  hot-blooded  Magyars 
will  also  soon  raise  the  question  whether  a  union 
with  "  Chaos  "  be  really  an  advantage  for  Hungary. 
Two  neighbours  of  Austria,  i.e.,  Russia  and  Italy, 
believe  with  the  greatest  positiveness  in  the  col- 
lapse of  the  Monarchy,  and  truly  everything  seems 
possible  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Orient.  The  Oriental 
question  extends,  moves  westwards,  and  resembles 
a  stone  which,  when  thrown  into  water,  draws 
ever-widening  circles.  It  already  enters  into  the 
domain  of  the  far  horizon  which  has  to  be  consid- 
ered in  the  politics  of  the  German  Empire.  Very 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   273 

probably  the  fate  of  Austria  and  the  still  not 
definitely  solved  Polish  question  will  in  time  to 
come  be  mixed  up  with  the  enigmatical  future  of 
the  Balkan  population.  In  Russia's  leading  circles 
fierce  hatred,  only  too  easily  understood,  rages 
against  Austria,  a  hatred  which  the  prudence  of 
clever  statesmen  may  temporarily  suppress  but 
cannot  stifle  altogether,  the  highest  interests  of  the 
two  neighbours  in  the  East  as  well  as  in  Poland 
being  in  closest  vicinity.  Certainly  one  needs  the 
happy  levity  of  Count  Beust  in  order  to  look  with 
steadfast  confidence  into  the  future  of  Austria. 
What  follows?  The  struggle  of  German-Austria 
against  the  Slavs  is  at  the  same  time  a  struggle  of 
the  modern  States  against  feudal  and  ultramontane 
Powers.  The  constitution  of  Cisleithania  honestly 
kept  and  intelligently  developed  offers  room  for  all 
nations  of  German- Austria.  Whoever  has  the 
freedom  and  peaceful  development  of  Middle 
Europe  at  heart  must  earnestly  wish  that  the  oft- 
proved  vitality  of  the  old  State  may  once  more 
assert  itself,  and  that  the  Germans  this  side  of  the 
Leitha  may  hold  their  own.  The  perfecting  of  this 
constitution  can,  however,  even  under  the  most 
favourable  auspices,  only  take  place  very  slowly; 
there  is  an  immeasurable  distance  between  the 
wretched  indifference  which  was  prevalent  in 
German-Austria  after  the  battle  of  Koniggratz  and 
the  present  national  sentiment.  The  German 
tongue  and  German  morals  must  not  anticipate 
great  results  from  the  Lothrings;  it  must  suffice 

18 


274  Treitschke 

to  us  if  Germans  maintain  their  possessions  against 
Slavs  and  Magyars.  The  complete  solution  of  a 
great  European  task  is  no  more  to  be  expected 
of  this  infirm  country.  Only  after  ten  years  of 
internal  peace  will  Austria,  if  ever,  gain  power  to 
pursue  serious  plans  in  the  East.  An  unreservedly 
sincere  friendship  we  must  not  expect  of  the 
"Hofburg. "  The  policy  of  silently  preserving 
all  rights  is  understood  in  Vienna  as  well  as  in 
Rome.  And  however  honestly  well-wishing  we 
might  be,  the  Lothrings  know  from  Italy  the 
mighty  attraction  of  national  States,  and  know 
that  their  Germans  cannot  turn  their  eyes  from 
our  Empire.  Because  of  its  existence  alone  the 
German  Empire  is  viewed  by  them  with  suspicion, 
and  prudent  circumspection  is  appropriate.  Every 
uncalled-for  attempt  at  intervention  in  Austria's 
internal  struggle  accentuates  the  mistrust  of  the 
"  Hofburg  "  against  our  countrymen  and  prejudices 
the  German  cause.  This  Prince  Bismarck  mag- 
nificently understood  when  he  abstained  at  Gastein 
from  all  observations  against  the  Hohenwarte 
Cabinet.  It  was  very  badly  understood  by  the 
honest  citizens  of  Breslau,  Dresden,  and  Munich, 
when  they  decided  on  their  heartily  well-meant 
and  heartily  stupid  declarations  of  sympathy 
for  German-Austria.  Lucky  for  German-Austria 
that,  thanks  to  our  sober-mindedness,  such  madcap 
ideas  did  not  find  sympathy;  but  all  our  interest 
in  Austria  does  not  justify  us  in  shutting  our  eyes 
to  the  possibility  of  her  collapse.  The  perfection 


Austria  and  the  German  Empire   275 

of  the  Cisleithanian  constitution  presupposes  the 
good  intentions  of  all  parties;  at  present  such 
intention  is,  however,  found  to  exist  only  among 
part  of  the  German-Austrians.  The  Italians  are 
in  the  habit  of  saying,  Austria  is  not  a  State  but  a 
family.  When  the  foundation  of  Hapsburg  power 
was  laid,  the  expression  tu  felix  Austria  nube  met 
with  admiration  in  the  whole  world  and  Emperor 
Frederick  III,  regretfully  looking  at  his  amputated 
foot,  said:  "Itzt  ist  dem  Reich  der  ein  Fuss 
abgeschniedten "  ("Now  one  leg  has  been  cut  off 
the  Empire  ") .  The  times  of  imperial  self -worship 
and  State-forming  marriages  of  princes  are  no 
more.  Will  a  country  which  owes  its  origin  to  the 
senseless  family  policy  of  past  centuries,  which  in 
character  belongs  to  ancient  Europe,  be  able  to 
satisfy  the  demands  of  a  new  era?  We  dare  not 
answer  negatively,  yet  as  brave  and  vigilant  men 
we  must  also  contemplate  that  in  years  to  come 
Fate  may  reply  to  the  question  in  the  negative. 
If  the  calamity  of  the  destruction  of  Austria  were 
to  occur, — and  it  would  also  be  a  calamity  to  Ger- 
many,— then  our  Empire  must  be  ready  and  pre- 
pared to  brave  the  forces  of  Fate  to  save  German- 
ism on  the  Danube  from  the  debris.  "To  be 
prepared  is  everything,"  saith  the  Poet. 


THE   ALLIANCE   BETWEEN   PRUSSIA 
AND   RUSSIA. 

IN  the  summer  of  1813,  August  Wilhelm  Schlegel 
wrote  to  Schleiermacher :  "  Is  it  to  be  wondered 
at  that  this  nation,  on  whose  shoulders  the  weight 
of  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe  has  been  laid 
for  one  and  a  half  centuries,  should  go  with  a 
bent  back?"  In  these  words  he  indicated  both 
the  cause  of  the  long-continued  feebleness  of  our 
country  and  also  the  ground  of  the  constant  mis- 
trust with  which  all  the  Great  Powers  saw  Germany 
recovering  strength.  Even  a  cautious  and  unpreju- 
diced German  historian  will  find  it  hard  to  keep  from 
bitterness,  and  will  easily  appear  to  foreigners  as  a 
Chauvinist,  when  he  portrays  in  detail  in  how  much 
more  just  and  friendly  a  way  the  public  opinion  of 
Europe  regarded  the  national  movements  of  the 
Italians,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Southern  Slavs,  than 
the  Germans'  struggle  for  unity.  It  needs  even  a 
certain  degree  of  self-denial  in  order  to  recognize  that 
the  whole  formation  of  the  old  system  of  States, 
the  way  of  looking  at  things  of  the  old  diplomacy, 
depended  on  the  divided  state  of  Germany,  and 
consequently  in  our  revolution  we  could  expect 
nothing  better  from  the  neighbouring  Powers  than, 
at  most,  neutrality  and  silent  non-interference. 

276 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    277 

A  proud  German  will  be  glad  of  the  fact  that  we 
owe  all  that  we  are  really  to  ourselves;  he  will 
willingly  forget  past  unfairness  in  practical  politics 
and  simply  ask  what  is  the  attitude  of  the  neigh- 
bouring Powers  to  the  present  interests  of  our 
Empire?  But  he  who  only  sees  in  history  an 
arsenal  from  which  to  draw  weapons  to  pursue  the 
varying  aims  of  the  politics  of  the  day,  will,  with  a 
moderate  amount  of  learning  and  some  sophistry, 
be  able  to  prove,  just  as  it  happens  to  suit  him, 
that  France  or  Austria,  Russia  or  England,  is  our 
hereditary  foe.  A  book  of  such  a  sort,  thoroughly 
partisan  in  spirit  and  unhistorical,  is  the  work 
Berlin  and  Petersburg;  Prussian  contributions 
to  the  history  of  the  Relations  between  Russia  and 
Germany,  which  an  anonymous  author  has  lately 
published  with  the  unconcealed  purpose  of  arous- 
ing attention  and  of  preparing  the  minds  of 
credulous  readers  for  a  reckoning  with  Russia. 
The  book  is  entitled  "Prussian  Contributions," 
and  the  preface  is  dated  from  Berlin.  I  am  quite 
willing  to  believe  that  the  author,  when  he  wrote 
his  preface,  may  have  happened  to  be  passing  a 
few  days  in  Berlin.  But  everyone  who  knows  our 
political  literature  must  at  once  discern  that  the 
author  of  the  work  is  the  same  publicist  who  has 
issued  the  little  book,  Russia,  Before  and  After 
the  War,  Pictures  of  Petersburg  Society,  and  a 
number  of  other  instructive  works  dealing  with 
Russo-German  relations.  And  this  publicist  is, 
as  is  well  known,  no  Prussian  but  an  inhabitant 


278  Treitschke 

of  the  Baltic  provinces;  he  has,  hitherto,  never 
claimed  to  concern  himself  with  Prussian  politics, 
but  has  always,  with  great  talent  and  restless 
energy,  represented  the  interests  of  his  Baltic 
home  as  he  understood  them.  Among  the  political 
authors  of  Germany  he  takes  a  position  similar  to 
that  which  Louis  Schneider  once  occupied  on  the 
other  side.  Just  as  the  latter,  assuredly  in  his 
way  an  honest  Prussian  patriot,  regarded  the 
alliance  with  Holy  Russia  as  a  dogma,  so  does  our 
author  view  hostility  to  the  Czar's  Empire;  only, 
he  is  incomparably  abler  and  quite  free  from  that 
deprecatory  manner  which  makes  Schneider's 
writings  so  unpleasant.  The  restoration  of  Poland 
and  the  conquest  of  the  Baltic  provinces,  these 
are  the  visions  which,  more  or  less  disguised, 
hover  in  the  background  of  all  his  books.  In  his 
view  the  Prussian  monarchy  has  really  no  other 
raison  d'etre  than  the  suppression  of  the  Slavs; 
it  misses  its  vocation  till  it  has  engaged  in  hostili- 
ties against  the  Muscovites.  All  the  problems  of 
German  politics  are  gauged  by  this  one  measure; 
no  inference  is  so  startling  as  to  alarm  our  author. 
In  1871  he  opposed  the  conquest  of  Alsace  and 
Lorraine,  for  the  liberation  of  our  western  terri- 
tories threatened  to  postpone  the  longed-for  war 
with  Russia;  nor  could  a  patriot  of  the  Baltic 
provinces  allow  that  Alsace  with  its  Gallicized 
higher  classes  was  a  German  province,  while  on 
the  other  hand,  the  German  nationality  of  Li  viand 
and  Kurland  was  rooted  exclusively  in  the  nobility 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    279 

and  well-to-do  citizen  class.  Such  a  steady  di- 
rection of  sentiment  towards  one  object  compels 
the  respect,  even  of  an  opponent.  So  long  as  our 
author  fought  with  an  open  visor,  one  could  pardon 
his  warm  local  patriotism  when  he  at  times  spoke 
somewhat  contemptuously  of  Prussia,  and  held 
up  the  wonderful  political  instinct  of  the  Baltic 
nobility  as  a  shining  example  to  our  native  narrow- 
mindedness.  But  when,  as  at  present,  he  assumes 
the  mask  of  a  deeply-initiated  Prussian  statesman, 
when  he  pares  and  trims  our  glorious  history  to 
suit  the  aims  of  the  Baltic  malcontents,  and  wishes 
to  make  us  believe  that  Prussia  has  been  for  fifty 
years  the  plaything  of  a  foreign  power,  then  it  is 
quite  permissible  to  examine  more  closely  whether 
the  cargo  of  this  little  Baltic  ship  is  worth  more 
than  the  false  flag  which  it  flies  at  its  masthead. 

The  old  proverb,  "Qui  a  compagnon,  a  maitre," 
is  especially  true  of  political  alliances.  Hardenberg 
made  a  mistake  when  he  once  said  regarding  Aus- 
tria and  Prussia,  "leurs  interets  se  confondent." 
A  community  of  interests  between  independent 
Powers  can  only  be  a  conditional  one,  and  limited 
by  time;  in  every  alliance  which  lasts  long,  some- 
times one  of  the  contracting  parties  and  sometimes 
the  other  will  consider  itself  overreached.  Thus 
our  State  at  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century  made  enormous  sacrifices  to  aid  the  ob- 
jects of  the  two  sea-Powers,  but  did  not  finally 
gain  any  further  advantage  from  this  long  alliance 
than  the  right  of  her  head  to  use  the  kingly  title, 


280  Treitschke 

and  some  barren  laurels.  The  history  also  of  the 
seventy-seven  year-long  friendship  between  Prus- 
sia and  Russia — the  longest  alliance  which  has 
ever  existed  between  two  great  Powers — presents 
many  such  phenomena.  There  were  times  when 
German  patriots  were  fully  justified  in  regarding 
the  friendship  of  Russia  as  oppressive,  nay,  as 
disgraceful,  just  as  on  the  other  hand  in  recent 
years  the  great  majority  of  educated  Russians 
firmly  believed  that  their  country  was  injured  by 
the  Prussian  alliance.  But  when  one  sums  up  the 
results,  and  compares  the  relative  position  in 
respect  of  power  of  the  two  States  in  1802,  when 
their  alliance  was  formed,  with  that  in  1879,  when 
it  was  dissolved,  it  cannot  be  honestly  asserted  that 
Prussia  fared  badly  in  this  alliance. 

The  Russo-Prussian  alliance  was,  as  is  well 
known,  entirely  the  personal  work  of  the  two 
monarchs,  and  everyone  knows  how  much  it  was 
helped  forward  by  the  honest  and  frank  friend- 
ship which  the  King  Frederick  William  III  dis- 
played towards  the  versatile  Czar.  But  these 
personal  feelings  of  the  King  never  overpowered 
his  sound  political  intelligence  and  his  strong  sense 
of  duty.  Every  new  advance  of  historical  investi- 
gation only  reconfirms  the  fact  that  the  King  was 
altogether  right  when,  unseduced  by  the  proposals 
of  so  many  cleverer  men  than  himself,  he  was  only 
willing  to  venture  on  the  attempt  at  rising  against 
Napoleon  in  alliance  with  Russia.  Without  the 
help  of  the  Czar  Alexander,  the  capture  of  Paris, 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    281 

and  the  restoration  of  the  old  power  of  Prussia 
would  have  been  impossible.  Any  one  who  doubts 
this  should  peruse  the  recently  published  Memoirs 
of  Metternich  regarding  the  real  objects  of  the 
Vienna  Court  at  the  time — i.e.,  not  the  Memoirs 
themselves  with  their  intolerable  self-glorification, 
but  the  appended  authentic  official  documents, 
which,  for  the  most  part,  plainly  contradict  the 
vain  self-eulogy  of  the  author.  At  the  Congress  of 
Vienna  the  two  courts  still  continued  to  have  a 
community  of  interests:  the  Czar  was  obliged  to 
support  Prussia's  demands  for  an  indemnity,  if 
he  wished  to  secure  for  himself  the  possession  of 
Poland. 

At  the  second  Peace  of  Paris,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  interests  of  the  two  Powers  came  into  violent 
collision.  The  Czar  had  indeed  favoured  the 
restoration  of  the  State  of  Prussia,  so  that  Russia 
should  be  rendered  impregnable  through  this 
rampart  on  its  most  vulnerable  side,  but  he  as  little 
wished  the  rise  of  a  completely  independent  self- 
sufficing  German  power  as  the  courts  of  Paris, 
Vienna,  and  London  did.  Therefore,  the  restor- 
ation of  our  old  western  frontier,  which  Prussia 
demanded,  was  defeated  by  the  united  opposition 
of  all  the  Great  Powers.  All  the  courts  without 
exception  observed  with  anxiety  what  an  unsus- 
pected wealth  of  military  power  little  Prussia  had 
developed  during  the  War  of  Liberation ;  therefore 
they  all  eagerly  vied  with  one  another  in  burying 
Prussia's  merits  in  oblivion.  Whether  one  reads 


282  Treitschke 

the  military  dispatches  of  Wellington  and  his 
officers,  the  letters  of  Schwarzenberg,  Metternich, 
and  Gentz,  the  semi-official  writings  of  the  Russian 
military  authors  of  that  period,  it  is  difficult  to 
say  which  of  the  three  allies  had  most  quickly 
and  completely  forgotten  the  deeds  of  their  Prus- 
sian comrades-in-arms.  Nevertheless,  the  alliance 
with  Russia  and  Austria  was  a  necessity  for  Prussia 
for  it  still  remained  the  most  important  task  of  our 
European  policy  to  prevent  another  declaration  of 
war  on  the  part  of  France,  and  the  Great  Alliance 
actually  achieved  this,  its  first  purpose.  When 
Austria,  in  1817,  rendered  anxious  by  Alexander's 
grandiose  schemes,  proposed  to  the  King  of  Prussia 
a  secret  offensive  and  defensive  alliance,  which  in 
case  of  need  might  be  also  directed  against  Russia, 
Hardenberg,  who  in  those  days  was  thoroughly 
Austrian  in  his  sympathies,  was  eager  to  accept  the 
proposal.  But  the  King  acted  as  a  Prussian,  and 
absolutely  refused,  for  only  the  union  of  all  three 
Eastern  Powers  could  secure  to  his  State  the  safety 
which  he  especially  needed  after  the  immense 
sacrifices  of  the  war.  Yet  our  Baltic  anonymous 
author  is  quite  wrong  in  so  representing  things 
as  though,  in  Frederick  William  Ill's  view,  the 
alliance  with  Russia  had  been  the  only  possible 
one.  The  King  knew,  more  thoroughly  than  his 
present-day  critic,  the  incalculable  vicissitudes  of 
international  relations  and  always  kept  cautiously 
in  view  the  possibility  of  a  war  against  Russia. 
In  1818  he  surprised  the  Vienna  Court  by  the 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    283 

declaration  that  he  wished  also  to  include  Posen, 
East  and  West  Prussia,  in  the  German  Confeder- 
ation, because  in  case  of  a  Russian  attack,  he 
wanted  to  be  absolutely  sure  of  the  help  of  Ger- 
many. Frederick  William  held  obstinately  to  this 
idea  although  Hardenberg  and  Humboldt  spoke 
against  it,  and  he  did  not  give  it  up  till  Austria 
opposed  it,  and  thus  every  prospect  of  carrying 
the  proposal  through  in  the  Diet  of  the  Confeder- 
ation disappeared. 

It  is  equally  untrue  that  the  King,  as  our  anony- 
mous author  condescendingly  expresses  it,  had 
modestly  renounced  all  wishes  of  bringing  about 
a  union  of  the  German  States.  His  policy  was 
peaceful,  as  it  was  obliged  to  be;  it  shunned  a 
decisive  contest  for  which  at  that  time  all  the 
preliminary  conditions  were  lacking,  but  as  soon 
as  affairs  in  the  new  provinces  were,  to  some  extent, 
settled,  he  began  at  once  to  work  for  the  com- 
mercial and  political  unifying  of  Germany.  In 
this  difficult  task,  which  in  very  truth  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  new  German  Empire,  Prussia  en- 
countered at  every  step  the  opposition  of  Austria, 
England,  and  France.  Russia  alone  among  all  the 
Great  Powers  preserved  a  friendly  neutrality. 
This  one  fact  is  sufficient  to  justify  the  King  in 
attaching  great  importance  to  Russia's  friendship. 

This  partiality  of  his,  however,  was  by  no  means 
blind,  for  nothing  is  more  absurd  than  the  author's 
assertion  that  Prussia,  by  the  mediation  which 
brought  about  the  Peace  of  Adrianople,  had  merely 


284  Treitschke 

done  the  Russian  Court  an  unselfish  service. 
When  the  war  of  1828  broke  out,  the  King  had 
openly  told  the  Czar  that  he  disapproved  of  his 
declaration  of  war.  The  next  year,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  second  campaign,  the  Euro- 
pean situation  assumed  a  very  threatening  aspect. 
The  Vienna  Cabinet,  alarmed  in  the  highest  degree 
by  the  progress  of  the  Russian  arms,  exerted  itself 
in  conjunction  with  England  to  bring  about  a  great 
alliance  against  Russia;  on  the  other  hand  the 
King  knew  from  his  son-in-law's  mouth  (the  Czar's 
autograph  note  is  still  preserved  in  the  Berlin  state 
archives)  that  there  was  a  secret  understanding 
between  Nicholas  and  Charles  X  of  France.  If 
matters  were  allowed  to  go  their  course,  there  was 
danger  of  a  European  war,  which  might  oblige 
Prussia  to  fight  simultaneously  against  Russia 
and  France,  and  that  about  a  question  remote  from 
our  interests.  In  order  to  avert  this  danger,  and 
thus  acting  for  the  best  for  his  own  country,  the 
King  resolved  to  act  as  a  mediator,  and  brought 
about  a  peace  which,  as  matters  then  were,  was 
acceptable  to  both  contending  parties. 

Prince  Metternich  was  certainly  alarmed  at  this 
success  of  Prussian  policy,  and  the  reactionary 
party  in  Berlin,  Duke  Karl  of  Mecklenburg, 
Ancillon,  Schuckmann,  Knesebeck,  who  were  all 
staunch  adherents  of  the  Vienna  diplomat,  were 
alarmed;  but  the  ablest  men  at  the  Court,  Bern- 
stoff,  Witzleven,  Eichhorn,  and  above  all  the 
younger  Prince  William,  approved  the  King's 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    285 

well-considered  proceeding.  The  resolve  of  the 
King  was  obviously  connected  with  the  brilliant 
successes  which  his  finance  minister,  Motz,  had 
won  at  the  same  time  in  the  struggles  of  German 
commercial  policy.  To  the  calm  historical  judg- 
ment the  years  1828  and  1829  appear  as  a  fortu- 
nate turning  point  in  the  history  of  that  uneventful 
period;  it  was  the  time  when  Prussia  again  began 
to  take  up  a  completely  independent  position  in 
relation  to  the  Austrian  Court.  Among  the 
liberals,  indeed,  who  had  lately  been  admiring  the 
Greeks,  and  now  were  suddenly  enthusiastic  for 
the  Turks,  there  arose  a  supplementary  party- 
legend,  that  Prussia  had  only  undertaken  the  office 
of  mediator  in  order  to  save  the  Russian  army  from 
certain  destruction.  This  discovery,  however,  is 
already  contradicted  by  the  calendar.  On  August 
1 9th,  Diebitch's  army  appeared  before  Adrianople; 
and  it  was  here  that  the  victor's  embarrassments 
first  began,  and  here,  first,  it  was  evident  how  much 
his  fighting  power  had  been  reduced  by  sickness, 
and  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  campaign.  But 
Prussia  had  commenced  acting  as  mediator  as 
early  as  July ;  when  General  Muffling  received  his 
instructions,  the  Russian  army  was  victorious 
everywhere. 

Later  on,  also,  the  sober-mindedness  of  King 
Frederick  William  never  favoured  the  Czar's  de- 
signs against  the  Porte;  he  rather  did  his  best 
to  strengthen  the  resisting  power  of  the  Ottoman 
Empire.  The  only  partly  effective  reform  which 


286  Treitschke 

the  decaying  Turkish  State  succeeded  in  carrying 
through — the  reconstitution  of  its  army — was, 
as  is  well  known,  the  work  of  Prussian  officers. 
All  the  reports  which  the  embittered  scandal- 
seeking  opposition  party  of  that  time  circulated, 
regarding  the  influence  of  Russia  in  the  domestic 
concerns  of  Prussia,  are  mere  inventions.  The 
King  alone  deserves  blame  or  praise  for  the  course 
of  domestic  policy ;  his  son-in-law  never  refused  to 
pay  him  filial  reverence.  Even  the  eccentricities 
of  the  Berlin  Court  at  that  period,  the  love  for 
parades,  the  bestowing  of  military  decorations, 
which  were  stigmatized  by  the  liberals  as  "  Russian 
manners,"  were  simply  due  to  the  personal  pre- 
dilection of  the  King,  and  it  is  difficult  to  decide 
whether  Russia  has  leamt  more  in  this  respect 
from  Germany,  or  vice  versa.  During  the  anxious 
days  of  the  July  revolution  the  King  exhibited 
again,  with  all  his  modesty,  an  independent  and 
genuinely  Prussian  attitude.  Frederick  William 
resisted  the  legitimist  outbursts  of  his  son-in-law, 
and  hindered  the  crusade  against  France  which 
had  been  planned  in  St.  Petersburg.  The  next 
year  he  resisted  with  equal  common  sense  the 
foolish  enthusiasm  of  the  liberals  for  the  Poles, 
and  by  occupying  the  eastern  frontier,  assisted 
in  the  suppression  of  that  Polish  insurrection 
which  was  as  dangerous  for  our  Posen  as  for 
Russian  Poland.  The  Baltic  anonymous  author 
conceals  his  vexation  at  this  intelligent  policy  of 
self-assertion,  behind  the  thoughtful  remark  that 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    287 

we  had,  as  is  well  known,  "paid  for  rendering  this 
assistance  with  the  valuable  life  of  Gneisenau. " 
Should  we,  then,  perhaps  enter  in  our  ledger  on 
the  Russian  debit  side,  the  cholera,  which  swept 
away  our  heroes? 

During  the  whole  period  from  1815  to  1840,  I 
know  only  of  a  single  fact  which  can  be  alleged  to 
give  real  occasion  to  the  reproach  that  the  King, 
for  the  sake  of  Russia's  friendship,  neglected  an 
important  interest  of  his  State.  In  contrast  to 
the  ruthless  commercial  policy  of  Russia,  Prussia 
showed  a  moderation  which  bordered  on  weakness. 
But  this  matter,  also,  is  not  so  simple  as  our 
anonymous  author  thinks.  He  reproaches  Russia 
with  the  non-fulfilment  of  the  Vienna  Treaty  of 
May  3,  1815,  and  overlooks  the  fact  that  Prussia 
herself  hardly  wished  in  earnest  the  carrying  out 
of  this  agreement.  It  was  soon  enough  proved 
that  Hardenberg  had  been  overreached  at  Vienna 
by  Prince  Czartoryski.  The  apparently  harmless 
agreements  regarding  free  transit,  and  free  trade 
with  the  products  of  all  formerly  Polish  territories, 
imposed  upon  our  State,  through  which  the  transit 
took  place,  only  duties,  without  conferring  any 
corresponding  advantages.  In  order  to  carry  out 
the  treaty  literally,  Prussia  would  have  had  to 
divide  its  Polish  provinces  from  its  other  territories 
by  a  line  of  custom-houses.  But  the  Poles  saw 
in  the  treaty  a  welcome  means  of  carrying  their 
national  propaganda  into  our  Polish  territories  by 
settlements  of  commercial  agents.  Thus  it  hap- 


288  Treitschke 

pened  that  Prussia,  after  futile  negotiations, 
proceeded  on  her  own  account;  and  by  the  cus- 
toms law  of  1818  placed  her  Polish  territories  on 
precisely  the  same  footing  as  her  other  eastern 
provinces.  After  this  necessary  step,  Prussia 
was  no  more  in  the  position  to  appeal  successfully 
to  the  Vienna  Treaty.  And  what  means  did  we, 
in  fact,  possess  to  compel  the  neighbouring  State 
to  give  up  a  foolish  commercial  policy,  which  was 
injurious  for  our  own  country?  Only  the  two- 
edged  weapon  of  retaliatory  duties.  The  relation 
of  the  two  countries  assumed  quite  a  different 
aspect  under  Frederick  William  IV.  It  will  al- 
ways be  one  of  the  most  bitter  memories  of  our 
history,  how  lacking  in  counsel,  and  wavering  in 
purposes  the  clever  new  King  proved,  in  contrast 
to  the  strong-willed  Czar, — how  cruelly  he  experi- 
enced, by  countless  failures,  that  in  the  stern 
struggles  for  power  of  national  life,  character  is 
always  superior  to  talent,  and  how  at  last,  for 
truth  will  out,  he  actually  feared  these  narrow 
minds.  Here  our  author  has  good  reason  for 
sharp  judgments ;  and  here  also  he  gives  us,  along 
with  some  questionable  anecdotes,  some  reliable 
matter-of-fact  information  regarding  the  history 
of  the  confusions  of  1848-50.  It  is  quite  true  that 
the  Czar  Nicholas  in  the  autumn  of  1848  asked 
General  Count  Friedrich  Dohna  whether  he  would 
not  be  the  Prussian  General  Monk,  and  march  with 
the  first  army  corps  on  Berlin,  to  restore  order 
there;  the  whole  Russian  army  would  act  as  his 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    289 

reserve  in  case  of  need.  The  memories  of  the 
Count  printed  from  autograph,  confirm  the  cor- 
rectness of  this  story  with  the  exception  of  some 
trifling  details.  But  even  here  the  author  cannot 
rise  to  an  unprejudiced  historical  estimate  of  the 
events  in  question.  He  conceals  the  fact  that  not 
only  Russia  but  all  the  great  Powers  were  against 
the  rise  of  a  Prussian-German  Empire.  The  posi- 
tion which  the  Powers  had  assumed  with  regard 
to  the  question  of  German  unity  had  not  changed 
since  1814.  He  similarly  ignores  the  fact  that  all 
the  great  Powers  opposed  the  liberation  of  Schles- 
wig-Holstein ;  and  it  is  undeniable  that  Russia, 
according  to  the  traditions  of  the  old  diplomacy, 
had  better  grounds  to  adopt  such  an  attitude  than 
the  other  Powers.  For  all  the  cabinets  believed 
then  decidedly — although  wrongly — that  Prussia 
wished  to  use  the  struggle  with  Denmark  as  a 
means  of  possessing  herself  of  the  Kiel  harbour. 
The  Russian  State,  as  a  Baltic  power,  could  not 
welcome  this  prospect. 

Russian  policy,  in  contrast  to  that  of  England, 
France,  and  Austria,  was  also  peculiar  in  this,  that 
it  resisted  the  Prussian  constitutional  movement. 
The  Czar  Nicholas  did  not  merely  behave  as  the 
head  of  the  cause  of  royalty  in  all  Europe,  but 
actually  felt  himself  such;  and  it  was  precisely 
this  which  secured  him  a  strong  following  among 
the  Prussian  conservatives.  It  is  far  from  my 
intention  to  defend,  in  any  way,  the  wretched 
policy  which  came  to  grief  at  Warsaw  and  Olmiitz ; 

19 


290  Treitschke 

we,  the  old  Gotha  party,  have  all  grown  up  as 
opponents  of  this  tendency.  Meanwhile,  after  the 
lapse  of  a  whole  generation,  it  seems,  however,  to 
be  time  to  appreciate  the  natural  motives  which 
drove  so  many  valiant  patriots  into  the  Russian 
camp.  It  is  enough  to  remember  only  the  King's 
ride  through  mutinous  Berlin,  the  retreat  of  the 
victorious  guards  before  the  defeated  barricade- 
fighters,  and  all  the  terrible  humiliation  which  the 
weakness  of  Frederick  William  IV  brought  on  the 
throne  of  the  Hohenzollerns.  The  old  Prussian 
royalists  felt  as  though  the  world  were  coming  to 
an  end;  they  saw  all  that  they  counted  most 
venerable,  desecrated;  and  amid  the  universal 
chaos,  the  Czar  Nicholas  appeared  to  them  to  be 
the  last  stay  of  monarchy.  Therefore,  in  order  to 
save  royalty  in  Prussia,  they  adhered  to  Russia. 
They  made  a  grievous  error,  but  only  blind  hatred, 
as  with  our  author,  can  condemn  them  abruptly 
as  betrayers  of  their  country.  The  head  of  the 
pro-Russian  party  in  Berlin  was,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  fifties,  the  same  Field  Marshal  Dohna  who 
had  instantly  rejected  with  Prussian  pride  the 
above-mentioned  contemptible  proposal  of  the 
Czar;  of  him,  a  diplomat  said:  "So  long  as  this 
old  standard  remains  upright,  I  feel  easy." 
Strongly  conservative  in  political  and  ecclesiastical 
matters  though  he  was,  this  son-in-law  of  Scharn- 
horst  had  never  surrendered  the  ideal  of  the  War 
of  Liberation,  the  hope  of  German  unity.  What 
brought  the  noble  German  into  the  ranks  of  the 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    291 

reactionists  was  certainly  not  regard  for  Russia, 
but  that  hopeless  confusion  of  our  affairs  which  had 
brought  about  such  a  close  connexion  between  the 
great  cause  of  German  unity  and  the  follies  of 
the  revolution;  the  imperial  crown  of  Frankfort 
seemed  to  him  as  to  his  King  to  be  a  couronne  de 
pave. 

As  regards  the  Crimean  War,  all  unprejudiced 
judges  believe,  nowadays,  that  Prussia  had,  as  an 
exception,  and  for  once  in  a  way  undeserved  good 
fortune.  The  crushing  superiority  of  Russia  was 
broken  by  the  western  Powers  without  our  inter- 
ference, and  yet  our  friendly  relations  with  our 
eastern  neighbour,  which  were  to  be  so  fruitful  in 
results  for  Germany's  future,  remained  unbroken. 
Even  a  less  undecided,  less  inactive  government 
than  Manteuffel's  ministry  could  scarcely  have 
obtained  a  more  favourable  result  than  this.  Our 
author  himself  tepidly  acknowledges  that  it  was 
not  Prussia's  duty  to  side  with  the  western 
Powers,  and  thus  help  on  the  schemes  of  Bona- 
partism.  A  really  brilliant  statesman  perhaps 
might,  as  soon  as  the  military  forces  of  France  were 
locked  up  in  the  east,  have  suddenly  made  an 
alliance  with  Russia,  and  attempted  the  conquest 
of  Schleswig-Holstein,  and  the  solution  of  the 
German  question,  without  troubling  himself  about 
mistaken  public  opinion.  But  it  is  obvious  how 
difficult  this  was,  and  how  impossible  for  a  person- 
ality like  the  King's.  Instead  of  quietly  appreciat- 
ing the  difficulty  of  the  circumstances,  our  author 


292  Treitschke 

only  vehemently  denounces  Russia's  pride,  and 
Prussia's  servility.  He  also  again  ignores  the 
fact  that  Prussia  then,  unfortunately,  had  fallen 
into  a  state  of  being  regarded  as  negligible  by  the 
whole  world,  and  the  arrogance  of  the  western 
Powers  was  not  less  than  that  of  Russia.  Every- 
one knows  the  letters  of  Prince  Albert,  and  Napol- 
eon Ill's  remark,  regarding  the  deference  which 
Prussia  showed  towards  Russia ;  the  cold  disparag- 
ing contempt  displayed  in  the  letters  of  the  Prince 
Consort,  who  was  himself  a  German,  and  accus- 
tomed to  weigh  his  words  carefully,  is,  in  my 
opinion,  more  insulting  than  the  coarse  words  of 
abuse  which  the  harsh  despotic  Nicholas  is  said 
to  have  blurted  out  in  moments  of  sudden  anger. 
Our  author  also  ignores  the  fact  that  the  Czar 
Nicholas,  declared  himself  ready  to  purchase 
Prussia's  help  in  the  field  by  surrendering  Warsaw. 
In  the  camp  of  the  English  and  French  allies  they 
were  willing  to  pay  a  price  also,  but  only  offered 
a  slight  rectification  of  the  frontier  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  Rhine.  Which  of  the  offers  was  the 
more  favourable? 

This  whole  section  of  the  book  is  a  mixture  of 
truth  and  falsehood,  of  ingenious  remarks  and 
tasteless  gossip.  We  will  give  one  specimen  of  the 
author's  manner  of  relating  history.  He  prints 
in  spaced  letters  the  following :  "  In  February,  1864, 
a  Prussian  State-secret — the  just  completed  plan 
of  mobilization — was  revealed  to  the  Court  of  St. 
Petersburg."  Then  he  relates  how  one  of  our 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    293 

noblest  patriots,  a  well-known  writer,  conveyed  the 
news  of  this  betrayal,  of  course  in  perfect  good  faith, 
to  a  Berlin  lithographic  correspondence  agency; 
and  in  consequence  a  secret  order  was  issued  for 
the  writer's  arrest.  I  happen  to  be  exactly 
acquainted  with  the  affair,  and  can  confirm  the 
statement  that  the  order  for  arrest  was  certainly 
issued — a  characteristic  occurrence  in  that  time 
of  petty  panics  on  the  part  of  the  police.  But 
more  important  than  this  secondary  matter,  is 
the  question  whether  that  piece  of  information 
was  reliable,  and  whether  that  betrayal  really  took 
place.  The  author  has  here  again  concealed 
something.  The  report  was  that  a  brother  of  the 
King  had  committed  the  treachery.  This  remark- 
able disclosure,  however,  did  not  originate  with  any 
one  who  was  really  conversant  with  affairs,  but 
with  an  honourable,  though  at  the  same  time  very 
credulous  and  hot-headed,  Liberal  deputy  of  the 
Landtag, J  who  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Court. 
Is  it  exaggerated  loyalty  when  we  Prussians  de- 
mand from  the  Baltic  anonymous  author,  at 
least,  some  attempt  at  a  proof,  before  we  resolve 
to  regard  one  of  our  royal  princes  as  a  traitor  to  his 
country.  The  story  simply  belongs  to  the  series 
of  innumerable  scandals,  which  were  only  too 
gladly  believed  by  the  malicious  liberalism  of  the 
fifties.  It  was,  we  must  remember,  the  time  when 
Varnhagen  von  Ense  was  flourishing.  In  accord- 
ance with  the  general  tenor  of  his  book,  the  author 

1  Parliament  of  a  single  State. 


294  Treitschke 

naturally  does  not  relish  the  indisputable  fact, 
that  the  policy  of  Alexander  II  atoned  for  many 
of  the  wrongs  which  the  Czar  Nicholas  had  com- 
mitted against  Germany.  He  seeks  rather,  during 
this  period  of  Russian  history,  to  hunt  up  every 
trace  of  movements  hostile  to  Germany.  It  is, 
for  instance,  a  well-known  fact,  that  after  the  Peace 
of  Paris,  Russia  sought  for  a  rapprochement  to 
France;  and  it  may  also  be  safely  assumed  that 
Prince  Gortschakoff,  from  the  commencement  of 
his  political  career,  regarded  an  alliance  with 
France  as  the  most  suitable  for  Russia.  But  it 
is  a  long  way  from  such  general  wishes  to  the  acts 
of  State-policy.  For  whole  decades  the  great 
majority  of  French  statesmen,  without  distinction 
of  party,  have  given  a  lip-adherence  to  the  Russian 
alliance;  even  Lamartine,  the  enthusiast  for 
freedom,  spoke  of  this  alliance  as  a  geographical 
necessity  and  the  "cry  of  nature."  And  yet  the 
course  of  the  world's  history  went  another  way. 

Then  came  the  Polish  rising  of  1863.  The 
Court  of  St.  Petersburg  learned  to  know  thor- 
oughly the  secret  intrigues  of  Bonapartism,  and 
in  Prussia's  watchful  aid  found  a  proof  of  the 
value  of  German  friendship.  Since  then,  for  a 
whole  decade,  its  attitude  has  remained  favourable 
to  our  interests,  whatever  fault  the  Baltic  anony- 
mous author  may  find  in  details.  Certainly  it 
was  only  the  will  of  one  man,  which  gave  this 
direction  to  Russian  policy.  The  Russo-Prussian 
alliance  has  never  denied  its  origin;  it  has  never 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    295 

evoked  a  warm  friendship  between  the  two  nations. 
While  the  great  majority  of  Germans  regarded 
Russian  affairs  with  complete  indifference,  there 
awoke  in  the  educated  circles  of  Russian  society, 
as  soon  as  the  great  decisive  days  of  our  history 
approached,  a  bitter  hatred  against  Germany, 
which  increased  from  year  to  year.  But  that  one 
will,  which  was  friendly  to  us,  governed  the  Ger- 
man State  ;and  so  long  as  this  condition  lasted,  the 
intelligent  German  press  was  bound  to  treat  the 
neighbouring  Power  with  forbearance.  When  the 
Baltic  author  expresses  contempt  for  our  press 
because  of  this,  and  blames  it  for  want  of  national 
pride,  he  merely  shows  that  he  has  no  comprehen- 
sion for  the  first  and  most  important  tasks  of 
German  policy.  His  thoughts  continually  re- 
volve round  Reval,  Riga,  and  Mitau. 

That  the  dislocation  of  the  equilibrium  among 
the  Baltic  Powers,  and  the  advance  of  Prussia  in 
the  Cimbric  peninsula  must  have  appeared  serious 
matters  to  the  St.  Petersburg  Court,  is  obvious. 
But  at  last  it  let  the  old  deeply-rooted  tradition 
drop,  and  accommodated  itself  with  as  good  a 
grace  as  possible  to  the  fait  accompli.  Similarly 
it  is  evident  that  the  formation  of  the  North 
German  Confederation  could  not  be  agreeable 
to  it.  When  the  war  of  1866  broke  out,  people  at 
St.  Petersburg  and  all  the  other  capitals  of  Europe 
expected  the  probable  defeat  of  Prussia,  and  at  first 
were  seriously  alarmed  at  the  brilliant  successes 
of  our  troops.  But  this  time  also  a  sense  of  fair- 


296  Treitschke 

ness  prevailed.  The  Czar  Alexander  accepted  the 
new  order  of  things  in  Germany,  as  soon  as  he 
ascertained  what  schemes  were  cherished  by  the 
Court  of  the  Tuileries  against  the  left  bank  of  the 
Rhine.  In  the  next  year,  1870,  this  attitude  of 
our  friend  and  neighbour  underwent  its  severest 
test.  Austria,  Italy,  and  Denmark,  as  is  well 
known,  were  on  the  point  of  concluding  an  alliance 
against  Germany,  when  the  strokes  of  Worth  and 
Spichern  intervened.  England  did  not  dare  to 
forbid  the  French  to  make  the  attack,  which  a 
single  word  from  the  Queen  of  the  Seas  could  have 
prevented,  and  afterwards  she  prolonged  the  war 
by  her  sale  of  arms,  and  by  the  one-sided  manner 
in  which  she  maintained  her  neutrality.  The 
Czar  Alexander,  on  the  other  hand,  greeted  each 
victory  of  his  royal  uncle  with  sincere  joy.  That 
was  the  important  point,  and  not  the  ill-humour 
of  Prince  Gortschakoff,  which  our  author  depicts 
with  so  much  satisfaction.  Russia  was  the  only 
great  Power  whose  head  displayed  friendly  senti- 
ments towards  us  during  that  difficult  time.  And 
if  we  wish  to  realize  how  valuable  Russian  friend- 
ship was  for  us  also  in  the  following  years,  we  must 
compare  the  present  state  of  things  with  the  past. 
As  long  as  the  alliance  of  the  three  Emperors  lasted, 
a  European  war  was  quite  out  of  the  question,  for 
the  notorious  war  crisis  of  1875  has  in  reality 
never  existed.  Since  Russia  has  separated  from 
the  other  two  Imperial  Powers,  we  are  at  any  rate 
within  sight  of  the  possibility  of  a  European  war, 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    297 

and  may  perhaps  be  suddenly  compelled  to  act 
on  two  frontiers  simultaneously. 

The  most  welcome  task  for  an  author,  who 
openly  preaches  war  against  Russia,  was  obviously 
to  show  in  detail  through  what  circumstances  the 
old  alliance  after  the  peace  of  San  Stefano  was 
loosened  and  finally  dissolved.  I  know  no  more 
of  these  matters  than  anyone  else.  I  only  know 
that  in  Russia  there  is  deep  vexation  at  the  course 
taken  by  the  Berlin  Congress,  and  that  a  great 
deal  of  the  blame  is  imputed  to  the  German  Em- 
pire. I  have  heard  of  secret  negotiations  regard- 
ing a  Franco-Russian  alliance,  and  am  without 
further  argument  convinced  that  Prince  Bismarck 
would  not  have  given  German  policy  its  latest 
direction  without  very  solid  reasons.  But  I  have 
no  more  exact  knowledge  of  the  matter.  There- 
fore it  was  with  easily  intelligible  curiosity  that 
I  began  to  read  the  last  section  of  the  book.  I 
hoped  to  learn  something  about  the  transactions 
between  Russia  and  France;  I  hoped  to  learn 
whether  the  sentiments  of  the  Czar  Alexander 
have  changed,  or  whether  that  monarch  does  not 
now  more  personally  direct  the  foreign  policy 
of  his  kingdom,  etc.  But  our  author  himself 
knows  nothing  about  such  matters;  he  deceives 
himself  or  others  when  he  pretends  to  be  initiated. 
He  only  produces  lengthy  extracts  from  the  Ger- 
manophobe  articles  of  the  Russian  press.  Every 
publicist  who  is  at  all  an  expert  knows  just  as 
many  fine  and  pithy  passages  in  Muscovite  papers. 


298  Treitschke 

In  Hansen's  Coulisses  de  la  Diplomatic  the  author, 
who  loves  historical  sources  of  this  kind,  might 
discover  similar  outpourings  of  Russian  politicians. 
But  all  that  proves  very  little.  The  question  is 
much  rather  whether  the  Russian  press,  which,  as 
is  well  known,  enjoys  only  a  certain  degree  of 
freedom  in  the  two  capitals  and  remains  quite 
unknown  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  is  powerful 
enough  to  influence  the  course  of  Russia's  foreign 
policy.  To  this  question  the  author  gives  no 
answer. 

So  we  lay  the  book  aside  without  any  informa- 
tion on  the  present  state  of  affairs,  but  not  without 
a  feeling  of  shame.  When  two  who  have  been 
friends  for  many  years  have  broken  with  each 
other,  it  is  not  only  unchivalrous  for  one  to  tax 
his  old  companions  with  sins  committed  long  ago, 
but  unwise;  the  reproach  always  falls  back  on  the 
reproacher.  The  last  impression  which  the  reader 
carries  away  from  this  work  is  much  more  un- 
favourable for  Prussia  than  for  Russia;  therefore 
even  the  foreign  press  greeted  it  at  once  with 
well-deserved  contempt.  Anyone  who  believes 
the  author,  must  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
King  Frederick  William  III  and  his  two  successors, 
had  conducted  a  Russian  and  not  a  Prussian  policy. 
Happily  this  view  is  quite  false.  But  we  would 
remind  the  Baltic  publicist  who,  under  the  dis- 
guise of  a  Prussian  patriot,  draws  such  a  flattering 
picture  of  our  history,  of  an  old  Prussian  story, 
which  still  has  its  application.  In  the  Rhine 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    299 

campaign  of  1793,  a  Prussian  grenadier  was 
inveighing  vigorously  against  King  Frederick 
William  II ;  but  when  an  Austrian  fellow-soldier 
chimed  in,  the  Prussian  gave  him  a  box  on  the 
ears  and  said:  "I  may  talk  like  that,  but  not  you; 
for  I  am  a  Prussian." 

The  author's  remarks  on  the  future  are  based 
upon  the  tacit  assumption  that  the  European 
Powers  fall  naturally  into  two  groups:  Austria, 
England,  Germany,  on  the  one  side;  Italy,  Russia, 
and  France,  on  the  other.  In  the  short  time  since 
the  book  came  out,  this  assumption  has  already 
been  made  void;  the  English  elections  have  re- 
minded the  world  very  forcibly  of  the  instability 
of  grouping  in  the  system  of  States.  If  the  author 
had  commenced  his  work  only  four  weeks  later, 
it  would  probably  not  have  appeared  in  the  book 
market  at  all,  or  have  done  so  in  a  very  different 
shape. 

But  there  is  one  truth,  though  certainly  no  new 
one,  in  the  train  of  thought  which  is  apparent  in 
this  book;  it  is  only  too  correct  that  hostility  to 
everything  German  is  constantly  on  the  increase 
in  influential  Russian  society.  But  we  do  not 
at  all  believe  that  an  intelligent  Russian  Gov- 
ernment, not  misled  by  the  dreams  of  Pan- 
Slavism,  must  necessarily  cherish  such  a  feeling 
towards  us.  We  regard  a  war  against  Russia 
as  a  great  calamity,  for  who,  now,  when  the 
period  of  colonizing  absolutism  lies  far  behind 
us,  can  seriously  wish  to  encumber  our  State 


300  Treitschke 

with  the  possession  of  Warsaw,  and  with  millions 
of  Poles  and  Jews?  But  many  signs  indicate  that 
the  next  great  European  crisis  will  find  the  Rus- 
sians in  the  ranks  of  our  enemies.  All  the  more 
important  therefore  is  our  newly-confirmed  friend- 
ship with  Austria. 

This  alliance  is,  as  a  matter  of  course,  sure  of 
the  involuntary  sympathy  of  our  people;  if  it 
endures,  it  may  have  the  useful  effect  of  strength- 
ening the  German  element  in  Austria,  and  finally 
checking  the  melancholy  decay  of  our  civilization 
in  Bohemia  and  Hungary,  in  Krain  and  the  Tyrol. 
Our  interests  in  the  East  coincide,  for  the  present, 
with  those  of  the  Danube  Empire.  After  the 
occupation  of  Bosnia  has  once  taken  place,  Austria 
cannot  again  surrender  the  position  she  has  taken 
up,  without  preparing  a  triumph  for  our  common 
enemy,  Pan-Slavism.  Nevertheless,  we  cannot 
join  our  Baltic  author  in  prophesying  that  the 
treaty  of  friendship  with  Austria  will  be  as  lasting 
and  immovable  as  the  unity  of  the  German  Em- 
pire. Germany  has  plenty  of  enemies  in  the 
medley  of  peoples  which  exist  in  Austria;  all  the 
Slavs,  even  the  ultramontane  Germans  hate  us; 
nay  more,  the  Magyars,  our  political  friends, 
suppress  German  civilization  in  the  Saxon  districts 
of  Transylvania,  much  more  severely  than  the 
Russians  ever  ventured  to  do  in  their  Baltic  pro- 
vinces. It  is  not  in  our  power  to  keep  these 
hostile  forces  for  ever  aloof  from  the  guidance  of 
Russia.  The  unity  of  our  Empire,  on  the  other 


Russian  and  Prussian  Alliance    301 

hand,  rests  on  our  own  power  alone,  and  on  the 
loyalty  which  we  owe  to  ourselves;  therefore  it 
will  last,  whatever  changes  may  take  place  among 
the  European  alliances. 


FREEDOM. 

WHEN  shall  we  see  the  last  of  those  [timid 
spirits  who  find  it  needful  to  increase  the  bur- 
den of  life  by  self-created  torture,  to  whom  every 
advance  of  the  human  mind  is  but  one  sign  more  of 
the  decay  of  our  race — of  the  approach  of  the  Day  of 
Judgment?  The  great  majority  of  our  contem- 
poraries are  again  beginning,  thank  Heaven!  to 
believe  quite  sturdily  and  heartily  in  themselves, 
yet  we  are  weak  enough  to  repeat  some,  at  least, 
of  the  gloomy  predictions  of  those  atrabilious 
spirits.  It  has  become  a  commonplace  assumption 
that  all-conquering  culture  will  at  last  supplant 
national  morality  by  a  morality  of  mankind,  and 
transform  the  world  into  a  cosmopolitan,  primitive 
pap.  But  the  same  law  holds  good  of  nations,  as 
of  individuals,  who  show  less  differentiation  in 
childhood  than  in  mature  years.  In  other  words, 
if  a  people  has  vitality  enough  to  keep  itself  and 
its  nationality  going  in  the  merciless  race-struggle 
of  history,  every  advance  in  civilization  will  cer- 
tainly bring  its  external  life  in  closer  contact  with 
other  peoples,  but  it  will  bring  into  clearer  relief 
its  more  refined,  its  deeper  idiosyncrasies.  We  all 
follow  the  Paris  fashions,  we  are  linked  with  neigh- 
bouring nations  by  a  thousand  different  interests; 

302 


Freedom  303 

yet  our  feelings  and  ideas,  so  far  as  the  French  and 
British  intellectual  world  is  concerned,  are  un- 
doubtedly more  independent  than  they  were  seven 
hundred  years  ago,  when  the  peasant  all  over 
Europe  spent  his  life  fettered  by  patriarchal 
custom,  whilst  the  ecclesiastic  in  every  country 
derived  his  knowledge  from  the  same  sources, 
and  the  nobility  of  Latin  Christendom  created  for 
itself  a  common  code  of  honour  and  morality 
under  the  walls  of  Jerusalem.  That  lively  ex- 
change of  ideas  between  nations,  on  which  the 
present  generation  rightly  plumes  itself,  has  never 
been  a  mere  give  and  take. 

We  are  fortified  in  this  consoling  knowledge  when 
we  see  how  the  ideas  of  a  German  classic  about 
the  highest  object  of  human  thought — about 
freedom — have  recently  been  developed  in  a  very 
individual  way  by  two  distinguished  political 
thinkers  of  France  and  England.  When  Wilhelm 
von  Humboldt's  essay  on  the  limits  of  the  opera- 
tions of  the  State  appeared  for  the  first  time  in 
complete  form,  a  few  years  ago,  some  sensation 
was  caused  by  that  brilliant  work  in  Germany 
too.  We  were  rejoiced  to  get  a  deeper  insight 
into  the  evolution  of  one  of  our  chief  men.  The 
more  refined  minds  delightedly  detected  the 
inspiring  breath  of  the  golden  age  of  German 
humanity,  for  it  is  indeed  only  in  Schiller's  nearly- 
related  letters  on  the  aesthetic  education  of  the 
human  race  that  the  bright  ideal  of  a  beautiful 
humanity,  which  fascinated  Germans  during  that 


304  Treitschke 

period,  has  been  depicted  with  equal  eloquence 
and  distinction.  The  gifted  youth  who  had  just 
had  his  first  look  into  the  self-complacent  red- 
tapeism  of  Frederick  William  II's  bureaucracy, 
and  had  turned  away,  chilled  by  its  lifeless  for- 
malities, in  order  to  live  a  life  of  aesthetic  leisure 
at  home — he  was  certainly  to  be  forgiven  for 
thinking  very  poorly  of  the  State.  Dalberg  had 
asked  him  to  write  the  little  book — a  prince  who 
had  the  intention  of  lavishing  profusely  on  his 
country  all  the  good  things  of  life  by  means  of  an 
administration  that  would  know  everything,  and 
look  after  everything.  The  young  thinker  em- 
phasized all  the  more  keenly  the  fact  that  the 
State  is  nothing  but  an  institution  for  purposes  of 
security ;  that  it  must  never  again  interfere,  directly 
or  indirectly,  with  a  nation's  morals  or  character; 
that  a  man  was  freest  when  the  State  was  least 
active.  We,  of  the  present  generation,  know  only 
too  well  that  the  true  cause  of  the  ruin  of  the  old 
German  State  was  that  all  free  minds  set  them- 
selves in  such  morbid  opposition  to  the  State 
that  they  fled  from  it  like  young  Humboldt, 
instead  of  serving  it  like  Humboldt  when  grown  to 
a  man,  and  elevating  it  by  the  nobility  of  their 
free  human  development.  The  doctrine  which 
sees  in  the  State  merely  a  hindrance,  a  necessary 
evil,  seems  obsolete  to  the  German  of  to-day. 
Curiously  enough,  though,  this  youthful  work  of 
Humboldt's  is  now  being  glorified  by  John  Stuart 
Mill,  in  his  book  On  Liberty,  and  by  Edward 


Freedom  305 

Laboulaye  in  his  essay  Vetat  et  ses  limites,  as  a 
mine  of  political  wisdom  for  the  troubles  of  the 
present  time. 

Mill  is  a  faithful  son  of  those  genuinely  German 
middle  classes  of  England,  which,  since  the  days 
of  Richard  II  have  preferentially  represented  our 
country's  inner  essence,  its  spiritual  work  both 
in  good  and  bad  respects,  both  by  an  earnest  desire 
for  truth  and  by  a  gloomy,  fanatical  zeal  in  re- 
ligious belief.  He  has  become  a  rich  man  since  he 
discovered  and  recognized  the  most  precious  jewel 
of  our  people,  German  idealism.  Speaking  from 
that  free  watch-tower  he  utters  words  of  reproach, 
bitter  words,  against  his  fellow-countrymen's 
confused  thinking;  and  unfortunately,  also,  against 
the  present  generation,  bitter  words  such  as  only 
the  honoured  national  economist  would  dare  to 
speak  unpunished.  But,  like  a  true-born  English- 
man, as  a  pupil  of  Bentham,  he  tests  Kant's  ideas 
by  the  standard  of  the  useful,  the  "well-compre- 
hended, permanent"  utility  of  course,  and  therein 
shows,  in  his  own  person,  the  deep  abyss  which 
will  always  separate  the  two  nations'  intellectual 
activities.  He  wavers  between  the  English  and 
German  views  of  the  world — in  his  book  On  Liberty, 
just  as  in  his  latest  work,  Utilitarianism — and 
finally  gets  out  of  the  difficulty  by  attributing 
an  ideal  meaning  to  Bentham's  purely  material- 
istic thoughts,  which  brings  them  close  to  the 
German  view.  With  the  help  of  the  apostle  of 
German  humanity  he  contrives  to  praise  the 

30 


306  Treitschke 

North-American  State-methods,  which  owe  little, 
or  nothing,  to  the  beautiful  humanity  of  German- 
Hellenic  classicism.  Laboulaye,  on  the  other 
hand,  belongs  to  that  small  school  of  keen-sighted 
Liberals,  which  feels  the  weakness  of  their  country 
to  reside  in  French  centralization,  and  endeavours 
to  re-awaken  the  germs  of  German  civilization 
which  are  there  slumbering  under  the  Keltic- 
Roman  regime.  The  talented  author  deals  with 
historical  facts,  rather  boldly  than  thoroughly; 
briefly,  he  is  of  opinion  that  Christianity  was  the 
first  to  recognize  the  worth  and  dignity  of  the 
individual.  Well,  then,  our  glorious  heathen  Hum- 
boldt  must  be  a  downright  Christian  philosopher, 
and  with  the  nineteenth  century,  the  age  must  be 
approaching  when  the  ideas  of  Christianity  shall 
be  completely  realized,  and  the  individual,  not 
the  State,  shall  rule.  The  Frenchman  will  con- 
vince only  a  small  group  of  believers  among  his 
numerous  readers.  Mill's  book,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  been  received  with  the  greatest  ap- 
plause by  his  fellow-countrymen.  They  have 
called  it  the  gospel  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
As  a  fact,  both  works  strike  notes  which  have 
a  mighty  echo  in  the  heart  of  every  modern  man ; 
it  is  therefore  instructive  to  investigate  whether 
they  really  expound  the  principles  of  genuine 
freedom. 

Although  we  have  learnt  to  assign  a  deeper 
foundation  and  a  richer  meaning  to  the  words  of 
the  Greek  philosopher,  no  thinker  has  surpassed 


Freedom  307 

the  interpretation  of  freedom  which  Aristotle 
discovered.  He  thinks,  in  his  exhaustive,  :empiri- 
cal  way,  that  freedom  embraces  two  things:  the 
suitability  of  the  citizens  to  live  as  they  prefer, 
and  the  sharing  of  the  citizens  in  the  State- 
government  (ruling,  and  at  the  same  time,  being 
ruled).  The  one-sidedness,  which  is  the  lever 
of  all  human  progress  brought  it  about  that  the 
nations  have  hardly  ever  aspired  to  the  full  con- 
ception of  freedom.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  well 
known  that  the  Greeks  preferred  political  freedom 
in  a  narrower  sense,  and  readily  sacrificed  the 
free  activity  of  the  individual  to  a  beautiful  and 
sound  existence  as  a  community.  The  love  of 
political  liberty,  on  the  part  of  the  ancients,  was 
certainly  by  no  means  so  exclusive  as  is  generally 
believed.  That  definition  of  the  Greek  thinker 
proves  that  they  were  by  no  means  lacking  in  the 
comprehension  of  a  life,  lived  after  its  own  will 
and  pleasure,  of  civic,  personal  freedom.  Aristotle 
knows  very  well  that  a  State-administration  is 
even  thinkable  which  does  not  include  the  national 
life,  taken  in  sum ;  he  expressly  declares  that  States 
are  particularly  distinguished  from  each  other, 
by  the  question  whether  everything,  or  nothing, 
or  how  much  is  shared  by  the  citizens.  At  any 
rate,  the  idea  was  dominant  in  the  mature  State 
of  antiquity,  that  the  citizen  is  only  a  part  of  the 
State,  that  true  virtue  is  realized  only  in  the  State. 
Political  thinkers  among  the  ancients,  therefore, 
occupy  themselves  solely  with  the  questions: 


308  Treitschke 

Who  shall  rule  in  the  State?  and,  How  shall  the 
State  be  protected?  Only  occasionally,  as  a  slight 
misgiving,  is  the  deeper  question  stirred :  How  shall 
the  citizen  be  protected  from  the  State?  The 
ancients  were  assured  that  a  power  which  a  people 
exercises  over  itself,  needs  no  limitation.  How 
different  are  the  German  conceptions  of  freedom, 
which  lay  chief  emphasis  on  the  unlimited  right 
of  personality!  In  the  Middle  Age  the  State 
began  everywhere,  with  an  implacable  combat  of 
the  State-power  against  the  desire  for  independence 
on  the  part  of  individuals,  guilds,  classes,  which 
was  hostile  to  the  State;  and  we  Germans  experi- 
enced in  our  own  persons  with  what  loss  of  power 
and  genuine  freedom  the  "Libertat"  of  the  minor 
princes,  the  "freedoms  of  the  Honourable  classes" 
were  bought.  If,  at  length,  in  the  course  of  this 
struggle,  which  in  later  times  was  gloriously 
settled  by  an  absolute  Monarchy,  the  majesty, 
the  unity  of  the  State  was  preserved,  a  transfor- 
mation would  take  place  in  the  people's  ideas  of 
freedom,  and  a  fresh  quarrel  would  start.  No 
longer  is  the  attempt  made  to  separate  the  indi- 
vidual from  a  State-power,  whose  necessity  has 
been  understood.  But  there  is  a  demand  that 
the  State-power  should  not  be  independent  of  the 
people;  it  should  become  an  actual  popular  ad- 
ministration, working  within  established  forms,  and 
bound  by  the  will  of  the  majority  of  the  citizens. 

Everybody  knows  how  immeasurably  far  from 
that  goal  our  Fatherland  still  is.     What  Vittorio 


Freedom  309 

Alfieri  proposed  to  himself  as  his  object  in  life 
nearly  a  hundred  years  ago : 

"Di  far  con  penna  ai  falsi  imperj  offesa", 

is  still  a  difficult,  toilsome  task  for  the  Germans. 
On  the  Fulda,  on  the  Leine,  and  probably  also 
on  the  Spree,  a  pusillanimous  German  might 
even  to-day  repeat  Alfieri's  question:  Ought  a 
man  who  is  steeped  in  the  feeling  of  civism,  to  take 
the  responsibility  of  bringing  children  into  the 
world,  under  the  yoke  of  a  tyranny?  Ought  he 
to  generate  beings  who,  the  more  sensitive  their 
conscience  the  stronger  their  sense  of  justice,  are 
bound  to  suffer  the  more  severely  beneath  that 
perversion  of  all  ideas  of  honour,  justice,  and 
shame,  whereby  a  tyranny  poisons  a  people? 
What,  however,  Alfieri  himself  experienced,  did 
not  happen  in  the  case  of  the  peoples.  When, 
having  reached  grown-up  age,  he  published  the 
savage  pamphlet,  On  Tyranny,  which  he  had  once 
written  in  holy  zeal  as  a  youth,  he  was  obliged 
himself  to  confess:  To-day  I  should  be  wanting 
in  the  courage,  or,  more  correctly  speaking,  the 
fury,  which  was  requisite  for  the  authorship  of 
such  a  book.  The  nations  to-day,  regard  with 
similar  feelings  the  abstract  hatred  of  tyrants  of 
the  past  century.  We  no  longer  ask:  "Come  si 
debbe  morire  nella  tirannide,"  but  we  stand  with 
determined,  invincible  confidence,  in  the  midst  of 
the  fight  for  political  freedom,  the  result  of  which 


310  Treitschke 

has  for  a  long  time  not  been  in  question.  For 
the  common  lot  of  everything  human  has  domi- 
nated this  struggle  too,  and  this  time,  also,  the 
thoughts  of  the  nations  largely  anticipated  actual 
conditions.  How  poor  in  vitality,  in  fruitfulness, 
are  the  partisans  of  absolutism  when  confronted 
with  the  people's  demand  for  freedom !  When  two 
mighty  streams  of  thought  dash  roaring  at  one 
another,  a  new  middle-stream  quietly  separates 
at  last  from  the  wild  confusion.  Nay,  rather,  a 
stream  rages  against  a  strong  breakwater  and 
makes  itself  a  way  through  thousands  and  thou- 
sands of  fissures.  Everything  new  that  this  nine- 
teenth century  has  provided,  is  the  work  of 
Liberalism.  The  foes  of  freedom  are  able  to  utter 
only  a  cool  negative,  or  to  revive  the  ideas  of 
long-forgotten  days  so  that  they  may  seem  alive 
again,  or,  finally,  they  borrow  the  weapons  of  their 
opponents.  In  the  tribunals  of  our  Chambers, 
by  means  of  the  free  press,  which  they  owe  to 
the  Liberals,  by  means  of  catchwords  which  they 
overhear  from  their  adversaries,  they  are  cham- 
pioning principles  which,  if  put  in  operation,  would 
be  bound  to  annihilate  all  the  freedom  of  the 
press,  all  Parliamentary  life. 

Everywhere,  even  in  classes  which  fifty  years 
ago  were  still  closed  to  all  political  ideas,  there  is 
a  calm  and  firm  belief  in  the  truth  of  those  great 
words,  which,  with  their  deliberate  definiteness, 
mark  the  boundary  of  a  new  period;  belief  in  the 
words  of  the  American  Declaration  of  Independ- 


Freedom  311 

ence:  "The  just  powers  of  governments  are  derived 
from  the  consent  of  the  governed."  So  indisput- 
able is  this  idea  to  modern  men  that  even  Gentz 
had,  reluctantly,  to  agree  with  the  detested  pro- 
tagonists of  freedom,  when  he  said  that  the  State- 
power  could  claim  sacrifices  from  the  citizen  only 
so  long  as  the  latter  could  call  the  State  his  State. 
And  these  problems  of  freedom  are  so  old,  so 
thoroughly  examined  in  all  their  aspects,  so  near 
a  decisive  issue,  that  as  regards  most  of  them  a 
conciliation  and  purgation  of  opinions  has  already 
been  achieved.  It  was  at  last  understood  that 
the  fight  for  political  freedom  is  not  a  dispute 
between  Republic  and  Monarchy,  because  the 
people's  "ruling  and  at  the  same  time  being  ruled," 
is  equally  realizable  in  both  forms  of  the  State. 
Only  one  single  corollary  of  political  freedom  is, 
even  to-day,  the  cause  of  embittered,  passionate 
discussion.  If,  namely,  the  people's  moral  con- 
sciousness is  in  very  truth  the  final,  just  founda- 
tion of  the  State,  if  in  very  truth  the  people  rules 
according  to  its  own  will,  and  for  its  own  happi- 
ness, a  longing  for  the  national  isolation  of  the 
States  arises  of  its  own  accord.  Because  it  is 
only  where  the  vital,  unquestioning  consciousness 
of  belonging  together  permeates  all  members  of 
the  State,  that  the  State  is  what  ought  to  be, 
according  to  its  nature,  an  organized  people  in 
unity.  Thence  the  desire  to  exclude  foreign 
elements,  and,  in  divided  nations,  the  impulse 
to  get  rid  of  the  smaller  of  the  two  "fatherlands." 


312  Treitschke 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  describe  to  how  many 
necessary  limitations  this  political  liberty  is 
subject.  Suffice  it  that  there  is  everywhere  a 
demand  for  the  government  of  the  peoples  in 
harmony  with  their  will,  it  is  more  general  and 
uniform  than  ever  before  in  history,  and  will  at 
last  be  as  surely  satisfied,  as  the  peoples'  existence 
is  more  permanent,  more  justified,  and  stronger 
than  the  life  of  their  powerful  opponents. 

However,  let  us  look  things  in  the  face,  let  us 
consider  how  entirely  our  ideas  of  freedom  have 
changed  in  this  protean  fight,  in  which  we,  our- 
selves, are  spectators  and  actors.  We  no  longer 
meet  the  problems  of  freedom  with  the  overbear- 
ingness,  with  the  vague  enthusiasm,  of  youth. 
Political  freedom  is  freedom  politically  limited — 
this  phrase,  which  was  blamed  as  servile  even 
a  few  decades  ago,  is,  to-day,  admitted  by  every- 
body capable  of  political  judgment.  And  how 
ruthlessly  has  harsh  experience  destroyed  all 
those  mad  ideas  which  hid  themselves  behind  the 
great  name  of  Liberty!  The  ideas  of  freedom, 
which  prevailed  during  the  French  Revolution, 
were  a  vague  blend  of  Montesquieu's  ideas  and 
Rousseau's  half-antique  conception.  The  con- 
struction of  political  liberty  was  believed  to  be 
complete  if  only  the  legislative  power  were  sepa- 
rated from  the  executive  and  the  judicial,  and 
every  citizen  were,  on  equal  terms,  to  help  in 
electing  the  deputies  of  the  National  Convention. 
Those  demands  were  fulfilled,  most  abundantly 


Freedom  313 

fulfilled,  and  what  was  the  end  of  it  all?  The 
most  disgusting  despotism  Europe  ever  saw.  The 
idolatry  which  our  Radicals  displayed  all  too  long 
for  the  horrors  of  the  Convention,  is  at  last  be- 
ginning to  die  out  in  the  presence  of  the  trifling 
reflection:  If  an  all-mighty  State-power  forbids 
me  to  open  my  mouth,  compels  me  to  belie  my 
faith,  and  guillotines  me  as  soon  as  I  defy  such 
insolence,  it  is  a  matter  of  perfect  indifference 
whether  that  tyranny  is  exercised  by  a  hereditary 
prince  or  by  a  Convention;  both  the  one  and  the 
other  is  slavery.  But  the  fallacy  in  Rousseau's 
maxim  that,  where  all  are  equal,  each  one  obeys 
himself,  seems,  really,  too  obvious.  It  is  much 
truer  that  he  obeys  the  majority,  and  what  is 
to  prevent  that  majority  from  behaving  quite  as 
tyrannously  as  an  unscrupulous  monarch? 

If  we  consider  the  feverish  convulsions,  which 
have  shaken  for  seventy  years  the  nation  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Rhine  (which  is,  despite  all,  a 
great  nation),  we  are  ashamed  to  find  that  the 
French,  in  spite  of  all  their  enthusiasm  for  liberty, 
have  only  known  equality,  and  never  freedom. 
But  equality  is  a  shallow  idea,  which  may  as  well 
signify  an  equal  slavery  of  all,  as  an  equal  freedom 
of  all.  And  it  certainly  means  the  former,  when 
it  is  aspired  to  by  a  people  as  the  sole,  highest, 
political  good.  The  highest  conceivable  degree 
of  equality — communism — is  the  highest  conceiv- 
able degree  of  serfdom,  because  it  assumes  the 
suppression  of  all  natural  inclinations.  Assuredly, 


314  Treitschke 

it  is  not  an  accident  that  the  passionate  impulse 
for  equality  is  especially  rife  in  that  people,  whose 
Keltic  blood  is  ever  and  ever  again  finding  pleasure 
in  flocking,  in  blind  subjection,  round  a  great 
Caesarean  figure,  whether  his  name  be  Vercin- 
getorix,  Louis  XIV,  or  Napoleon.  We  Germans 
insist  too  proudly  on  the  limitless  right  of  the 
individual,  for  us  to  be  able  to  discover  freedom 
in  universal  suffrage;  we  reflect,  that  even  in 
several  Ecclesiastical  Orders,  the  Heads  are 
chosen  by  universal  suffrage;  but  who  in  the  wide 
world  has  ever  sought  for  freedom  in  a  convent? 
Truly  it  is  not  the  spirit  of  liberty  which  speaks 
in  Lamartine's  declaration,  in  the  year  1848: 
"Every  Frenchman  is  an  elector,  therefore,  a 
self -ruler ;  no  Frenchman  can  say  to  another,  '  You 
are  more  a  ruler  than  I.'  What  instinct  of 
mankind  is  gratified  by  such  words?  None  other 
than  the  meanest  of  all — envy!  Even  Rousseau's 
enthusiasm  for  the  civism  of  the  ancients  will  not 
stand  serious  examination.  The  civic  glory  of 
Athens  rested  on  the  broad  substratum  of  slavery, 
of  contempt  for  all  economic  activities;  whilst 
we  moderns  base  our  fame  on  respect  for  all  men, 
on  our  acknowledgment  of  the  nobility  of  labour. 
The  most  bigoted  aristocrat  in  the  modern  world 
seems  like  a  democrat,  by  comparison  with  that 
Aristotle,  who  coolly  lays  it  down  with  horrible 
hardness  of  heart:  "It  is  not  possible  for  a  man 
who  lives  the  life  of  a  manual  labourer  to  practise 
works  of  virtue." 


Freedom  315 

Deeper  natures  were  impelled,  long  ago,  by 
such  considerations,  to  examine  more  carefully 
on  what  principles  the  much-envied  freedom  of  the 
Britons  rests.  They  found  that  in  that  country 
no  all-powerful  government  determines  the  desti- 
nies of  the  most  remote  communities,  but  every 
county,  however  small,  is  administered  by  itself. 
This  acknowledgment  of  the  blessings  of  self- 
government  was  an  extraordinary  advance;  for 
the  enervating  influence  on  the  citizens  of  a  State 
that  looks  after  everything  can  hardly  be  depicted 
in  sufficiently  dark  colours;  it  is,  therefore,  so 
uncanny,  because  a  morbid  state  of  the  people  is 
revealed  in  its  full  extent  only  in  a  later  generation. 
So  long  as  the  eye  of  the  great  Frederick  watched 
over  his  Prussians,  a  simple  glance  at  the  hero 
raised  even  small  souls  above  their  standard,  his 
vigilance  was  a  spur  to  the  sluggards.  But  when 
he  passed  away,  he  left  a  generation  without  a 
will,  accustomed — as  Napoleon  III  boasts  of  his 
Frenchmen — to  expect  from  the  State  all  incite- 
ment to  action,  disposed  to  that  vanity  which  is 
the  opposite  of  real  national  pride,  capable  on 
occasion  of  breaking  out  in  fleeting  enthusiasm  for 
the  idea  of  State-unity,  but  incapable  of  command- 
ing itself — incapable  of  the  greatest  task  which  is 
laid  upon  modern  nations.  Only  those  citizens 
who  have  learnt,  by  self-government,  to  act  as 
statesmen  in  case  of  need  are  able  to  colonize, 
to  spread  the  blessings  of  Western  civilization 
among  barbarians.  The  management  of  the 


316  Treitschke 

business  of  the  community  by  paid  State  officials, 
may  be  technically  more  perfect  and  may  be 
better  than  the  principle  of  the  division  of  labour; 
yet  a  State  which  allows  its  citizens,  of  their  own 
free-will,  to  look  after  districts  and  communities 
in  honorary  service,  gains  moral  force  by  the  self- 
consciousness,  by  the  living,  practical  patriotism, 
of  the  citizens — forces  which  the  sole  rule  of  State 
officialdom  can  never  evolve.  Assuredly,  this 
admission  on  our  part  was  a  significant  deepening 
of  our  ideas  of  freedom,  but  it  by  no  means  con- 
tains the  ultimate  truth.  For,  if  we  inquire  where 
this  self-government  of  all  small  local  districts 
exists,  we  discover  with  astonishment  that  the 
numerous  small  tribes  in  Turkey  enjoy  this  bless- 
ing in  a  high  degree.  They  pay  their  taxes;  for 
the  rest  they  live  as  they  please,  look  after  their 
pigs,  hunt,  kill  each  other,  and  find  themselves 
quite  happy  with  it  all — until  suddenly  a  pasha 
visits  the  tribe,  and  proves  to  the  dullest  under- 
standing, by  means  of  impalement  and  drowning 
in  sacks,  that  the  self-government  of  the  com- 
munities is  an  illusion,  if  the  highest  powers  of  the 
State  do  not  operate  within  fixed  limits  of  the 
laws. 

Thus,  finally,  we  come  to  the  conclusion,  that 
political  freedom  is  not,  as  the  Napoleons  assert, 
an  ornament  which  may  be  set  upon  a  perfectly 
constructed  State  like  a  golden  cupola;  it  must 
permeate  and  inspire  the  whole  State.  It  is  a 
profound,  comprehensive,  extremely  consistent 


Freedom  317 

system  of  political  rights,  which  tolerates  no  gaps. 
There  can  be  no  Parliament  without  free  com- 
munities, no  free  communities  without  Parliament ; 
and  neither  can  be  permanent  if  the  middle  factors 
between  the  top  of  the  State  and  the  communities, 
namely,  the  various  districts  and  departments, 
are  not  also  administered  by  a  concentration  of 
the  personal  activity  of  independent  citizens.  We 
Germans  have  felt  these  gaps  painfully  for  along 
time,  and  are  just  now  making  the  first  modest 
endeavours  to  fill  them. 

Nevertheless,  a  State  dominated  by  a  govern- 
ment carried  on  by  the  majority  of  its  people, 
with  a  Parliament,  with  an  independent  judiciary, 
with  districts  and  communities  which  administer 
themselves,  is,  despite  all,  not  yet  free.  It  has  to 
set  limits  to  its  operation ;  it  has  to  admit  that  there 
are  personal  properties  of  so  high  and  unassailable 
a  nature  that  the  State  must  never  subject  them 
to  itself.  Let  no  one  sneer  too  presumptuously 
at  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  more  recent 
Constitutions.  In  the  midst  of  phrases  and 
silliness,  they  contain  the  Magna  Charta  of  per- 
sonal freedom,  with  which  the  modern  world  will 
not  again  dispense.  Free  movement  in  religious 
faith,  and  in  knowledge  and  in  affairs  generally, 
is  the  watchword  of  the  times;  in  this  domain  it 
has  had  the  greatest  effect;  this  social  freedom  is 
developing  the  essence  of  all  political  desires  for 
the  great  majority  of  men.  It  may  be  asserted 
that  wherever  the  State  resolved  to  let  a  branch 


3i8  Treitschke 

of  social  activity  grow  unhindered,  its  self-control 
was  gloriously  rewarded;  all  the  predictions  of 
timorous  pessimists  fell  to  the  ground.  We  have 
become  a  different  nation,  since  we  have  been 
drawn  into  closer  intercourse  with  the  world  and 
its  ways.  Even  two  generations  ago,  Ludwig 
Vincke,  like  the  careful  President  he  was,  explained 
to  his  Westphalians  how  to  set  about  building 
a  high-road  by  means  of  a  company,  on  the  English 
plan.  To-day,  a  dense  net  of  associations  of 
every  kind  is  spread  over  German  territory.  We 
know  that  through  his  merchants,  the  German 
will,  at  the  least,  share  in  the  noble  destiny  of 
our  race,  and  fructify  the  wide  world.  And  it  is, 
even  now,  no  empty  dream  that  an  act  of  govern- 
ment will  presently  result  from  that  intercourse 
with  the  world,  compared  with  whose  world- 
embracing  outlook  all  the  activities  of  modern 
great  Powers  will  seem  like  sorry  provincialism 
— so  immeasurably  rich  and  many-sided  is  the 
essence  of  freedom.  Therein  lies  the  consoling 
certainty  that  it  is  never  impossible  at  any  time 
to  work  for  the  victory  of  freedom.  For  should  a 
government  temporarily  succeed  in  undermining 
the  people's  participation  in  legislation,  men  of 
to-day,  with  their  impulse  for  freedom,  would 
simply  throw  their  energies  with  the  more  viol- 
ence into  economic  or  spiritual  activities,  and  the 
results  in  the  one  sphere  influence  the  other  sooner 
or  later.  Let  us  leave  it  to  boys,  and  those  nations 
which  ever  remain  children,  to  hunt  for  freedom 


Freedom  319 

with  passionate  haste,  like  some  phantom  that 
dissolves  at  the  touch  of  its  pursuers.  A  mature 
people  loves  liberty,  like  its  lawful  wife;  she  is  part 
of  us,  she  enraptures  us  day  by  day  with  fresh 
charms. 

But  new,  undreamed-of  dangers  to  freedom, 
arise  with  the  growth  of  civilization.  It  is  not 
only  the  State-power  which  may  be  tyrannical, 
but  also  the  unorganized  majority  of  a  society 
may  subject  the  minds  of  its  citizens  to  odious 
compulsion  by  the  slow  and  imperceptible,  yet 
irresistible,  force  of  its  opinion.  And  it  is  beyond 
doubt,  that  the  danger  of  an  intolerable  limitation 
of  the  independent  development  of  personality, 
by  means  of  public  opinion,  is  especially  great  in 
democratic  States.  For,  whilst  during  the  absence 
of  freedom  under  the  old  regime,  at  least  a  few 
privileged  classes  were  allowed,  without  hindrance, 
to  develop,  brilliantly,  their  individual  gifts, 
whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  the  middle  classes, 
who  will  determine  Europe's  future,  are  not  free 
from  a  certain  preference  for  the  mediocre.  They 
are  justly  proud  of  the  fact  that  they  are  trying 
to  drag  down  to  their  own  level  everything  that 
rises  above  them,  and  to  raise  up  to  the  level  all 
those  that  are  beneath  them;  and  they  may  base 
their  desire  to  be  determining  factors  in  the  lives 
of  States  on  a  glorious  title,  on  a  great  deed,  which 
they,  together  with  the  old  monarchy,  have 
achieved,  namely,  on  the  emancipation  of  our 
lower  classes.  But  woe  to  us,  if  this  tendency 


32O  Treitschke 

to  equality,  which  has  ripened  the  most  precious 
fruit  in  the  domain  of  common  right,  goes  astray 
in  the  domain  of  individual  evolution!  The 
middle  classes  hate  all  open,  violent  tyranny,  but 
they  are  much  inclined  to  nullify,  by  the  ostracism 
of  public  opinion,  everything  that  rises  above  a 
certain  average  of  culture,  of  spiritual  nobility, 
of  audacity.  The  love  of  liberty  which  distin- 
guishes them,  and  makes  them,  as  such,  the  most 
capable  political  order,  is  liable  to  degenerate  only 
too  easily  into  idle  complacency,  into  an  unthink- 
ing sleepy  endeavour  to  blink  and  gloss  over  all 
the  contradictions  of  intellectual  life,  and  to  tole- 
rate alert  activity  only  in  the  sphere  of  material 
operations  (of  "improvement!").  We  are  not 
here  giving  utterance  to  vain  hypotheses.  Far 
from  it.  The  yoke  of  public  opinion  presses 
heavier  than  elsewhere  in  the  freest  great  States 
of  modernity,  in  England  and  the  United  States. 
The  sphere  of  what  the  community  permits  the 
citizen  to  think  and  to  do  as  an  honourable  and 
decent  being  is  there,  incomparably  narrower 
than  with  us.  If  you  have  knowledge  of  the 
memorable  discussions  about  the  Constitution  at 
the  Convention  of  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  1853 ; 
if  you  know  with  what  spirit  and  passion  the 
doctrine  was  then  championed,  that  "a  citizen 
may  certainly  be  the  subject  of  a  party,  or  an 
actual  power  (!),  but  never  the  subject  of  the 
State,"  you  will  not  underrate  the  peril  of  a  lapse 
into  conditions  of  harsh  morality  and  weakened 


Freedom  321 

rights — the  danger  of  the  social  tyranny  of  the 
majority.  Mill  has  excellently  pointed  this  out, 
and  therein  lies  the  significance  of  his  book  for  the 
present  time.  He  investigates,  quite  apart  from 
the  form  of  government,  the  nature  and  limits  of 
the  power  which  society  should  suitably  exercise 
over  the  individual.  Humboldt  saw  danger  for 
personal  liberty  only  in  the  State;  he  scarcely 
thought  that  the  society  of  beautiful  and  distin- 
guished minds,  which  associated  with  him,  could 
ever  hinder  the  individual  in  the  complete  evolu- 
tion of  his  personality.  However,  we  know  now, 
that  they  may  be  not  only  a  "free  sociability," 
but  also  a  tyrannical  public  opinion. 

In  order  to  understand  to  what  extent  society 
should  use  its  power  over  the  individual,  it  is  best, 
first  of  all,  to  throw  gleefully  overboard  a  question, 
over  which  political  thinkers  have  unnecessarily 
spent  many  unhappy  hours,  namely:  Is  the  State 
only  a  means  for  furthering  the  objects  in  life  of 
the  citizens?  Or,  is  it  the  sole  object  of  the  citi- 
zens' well-being  to  bring  into  existence  a  beautiful 
and  good  collective  life?  Humboldt,  Mill,  and 
Laboulaye,  and  the  collective  Liberalism  of  the 
Rotteck-Welcker  school,  decide  for  the  former; 
the  ancients,  as  is  well-known,  for  the  latter.  We 
think  the  one  opinion  is  worth  as  little  as  the  other. 
For  the  whole  world  admits  that  a  relation  of 
reciprocal  rights  and  duties  connects  the  State 
with  its  citizens.  But  reciprocity  is  unthinkable 
between  entities  which  are  related  to  one  another 


322  Treitschke 

simply  as  means  and  object.  The  State  is,  itself, 
an  object,  like  everything  living ;  for  who  can  deny 
that  the  State  lives  quite  as  real  a  life  as  each  of 
its  citizens?  How  wonderful,  that  we  Germans, 
with  our  provincialism,  have  to  admonish  a 
Frenchman  and  an  Englishman  to  think  more 
highly  of  the  State!  Mill  and  Laboulaye  both 
live  in  mighty  respected  States;  they  take  that 
rich  blessing  for  granted  and  perceive  in  the  State 
only  the  terrifying  power  which  threatens  the 
liberty  of  man.  We  Germans  have  had  our 
esteem  for  the  dignity  of  the  State  fortified  by 
painful  experience.  When  we  are  asked  by 
strangers  about  our  "narrower  fatherland,"  and 
a  scornful  smile  plays  around  the  lips  of  the  hearers 
at  the  mention  of  the  name  of  Reuss,  of  the 
younger  line,  or  Schwarzburg-Sondershausen's 
principality,  we  feel,  indeed,  that  the  State  is 
something  bigger  than  a  means  for  lightening  the 
burdens  of  our  private  lives.  Its  honour  is  ours, 
and  he  who  cannot  look  upon  his  State  with  enthu- 
siastic pride,  his  soul  is  lacking  in  one  of  the  highest 
feelings  of  man.  If,  to-day,  our  best  men  are 
trying  to  build  up  a  State  for  this  nation,  which 
shall  deserve  respect,  they  are  inspired  in  their 
task,  not  only  by  the  desire  to  spend  their  per- 
sonal existence,  henceforth,  in  greater  security, 
but  they,  also,  know  they  are  fulfilling  a  moral 
duty,  which  is  imposed  upon  every  nation. 

The    State — which    protected    our    forefathers 
with  its  justice,  which  they  defended  with  their 


Freedom  323 

bodies;  which  the  living  are  called  upon  to  build 
further;  and  higher-developed  children  and  child- 
ren's children  to  inherit  which,  therefore,  is 
a  sacred  bond  between  many  generations — the 
State,  I  say,  is  an  independent  order,  which  lives 
according  to  its  own  laws.  The  views  of  rulers 
and  ruled  can  never  altogether  coincide;  they  will, 
assuredly,  reach  the  same  goal  in  a  free  and  mature 
State,  but  by  widely  divergent  paths.  The 
citizen  demands  from  the  State  the  highest  pos- 
sible measure  of  personal  liberty,  because  he  wants 
to  live  himself  out,  to  develop  all  his  powers. 
The  State  grants  it,  not  because  it  wants  to  oblige 
the  individual  citizen;  but  it  is  considering  itself, 
the  whole.  It  is  bound  to  support  itself  by  its 
citizens;  but  in  the  moral  world,  only  that  which 
is  free,  which  is  also  able  to  resist,  supports.  Thus, 
truly,  the  respect,  which  the  State  pays  the  indi- 
vidual and  his  liberty,  gives  the  surest  measure 
of  its  culture;  but  it  pays  that  respect  primarily 
because  political  freedom,  which  the  State  itself 
acquires,  is  impossible  with  citizens  who  do  not, 
themselves,  look  after  their  most  private  affairs 
without  hindrance. 

This  indissoluble  connection  between  political 
and  personal  liberty,  especially  the  essence  of 
liberty,  as  of  a  closely-cohering  system  of  noble 
rights,  has  not  been  properly  understood  by  either 
Mill  or  Laboulaye.  The  former,  in  full  enjoyment 
of  English  civic  rights,  silently  assumes  the  exist- 
ence of  political  freedom;  the  latter,  under  the 


324  Treitschke 

oppression  of  Bonapartism,  does  not  dare  even 
to  think  about  it.  And  yet  personal  freedom, 
without  the  political,  leads  to  the  dissolution  of 
the  State.  He  who  sees  in  the  State  only  a  means 
for  obtaining  the  objects  in  life  of  the  citizens, 
must,  consequentially,  after  the  good  mediaeval 
manner,  seek  freedom  from  the  State,  not  freedom 
in  the  State.  The  modern  world  has  outgrown 
that  error.  Still  less,  however,  may  a  generation, 
which  lives  predominantly  for  social  aims,  and  is 
able  to  devote  only  a  small  part  of  its  time  to  the 
State,  fall  into  the  opposite  error  of  the  ancients. 
This  age  is  called  upon  to  resume  in  itself,  and  to 
further  develop,  the  indestructible  results  of  the 
labours  of  culture,  and,  likewise,  of  the  political 
work  of  antiquity  and  the  Middle  Age.  Thus  it 
arrives  at  the  harmonizing  and  yet  independent 
conclusion,  that  there  is  a  physical  necessity,  and 
a  moral  duty,  for  the  State  to  further  everything 
that  serves  the  personal  evolution  of  its  citizens. 
And,  again,  there  is  a  physical  necessity,  and  a 
moral  duty,  for  the  individual  to  take  his  part  in 
a  State,  and  to  make  even  personal  sacrifices  to 
it,  which  the  maintenance  of  the  community 
demands,  even  the  sacrifice  of  his  life.  And,  indeed, 
man  is  subject  to  this  duty,  not  merely  because 
it  is  only  as  a  citizen  that  he  can  become  a  com- 
plete man,  but  also  because  it  is  an  historical 
ordinance  that  mankind  build  States,  beautiful 
and  good  States.  The  historical  world  affords 
superabundant  evidence  of  such  conditions  of 


Freedom  325 

reciprocal  rights,  or  reciprocal  dependence;  every- 
thing conditioned  appears  in  it  at  the  same  time 
as  a  conditioning  entity.  It  is  precisely  that 
fact  which  often  makes  the  comprehension  of 
things  political  difficult  to  keen,  mathematical 
minds  which,  like  Mill,  are  fond  of  reaching 
conclusion  by  means  of  a  radical  law. 

Mill  now  tries  to  draw  the  permissible  limits 
of  the  operation  of  society  with  the  sentence: 
The  interference  of  society  with  personal  liberty 
is  only  justified,  when  it  is  necessary,  in  order  to 
protect  the  community  itself,  or  to  hinder  injury 
by  others.  We  shall  not  contradict  this  saying — 
if  only  it  were  not  so  entirely  futile!  How  small 
is  the  effect  of  such  abstract  maxims  of  natural 
law  in  an  historical  science!  For  is  not  the  "self- 
protection  of  the  Community"  historically  capable 
of  change?  Is  it  not  the  duty  of  a  theocratic 
State,  for  the  sake  of  self -protection,  to  tyran- 
nously  interfere,  even  with  the  thoughts  of  its 
citizens?  And  do  not  those  common  labours, 
which  are  "necessary  for  the  community,"  which 
the  citizen  must  be  compelled  to  discharge,  vary 
essentially  according  to  time  and  place?  There 
is  no  absolute  limit  to  the  State-power,  and  it  is 
the  greatest  merit  of  modern  science,  that  it  has 
taught  politicians  to  reckon  only  with  relative 
ideas.  Every  advance  of  civilization,  every  widen- 
ing of  national  culture,  necessarily  makes  the 
State's  activity  more  varied.  North  America, 
too,  is  experiencing  that  truth;  the  State  and 


326  Treitschke 

society  in  the  big  towns  there  are  also  being 
obliged  to  develop  a  manifold  activity,  which  is 
not  needed  in  a  primeval  forest. 

The  much-vaunted  voluntarism,  the  activity 
of  free  private  associations,  is  not  by  any  means 
sufficient  in  all  cases  to  satisfy  the  needs  of  our 
society.  The  net  of  our  intercourse  has  such  small 
meshes,  that  a  thousand  collisions  between  rights 
and  interests  necessarily  occur;  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  State  in  both  instances  to  intervene  conciliat- 
ingly  as  an  impartial  power.  In  the  same  way 
there  exist  in  every  highly-civilized  nation,  big 
private  powers  which  actually  exclude  free  com- 
petition ;  the  State  has  to  restrain  their  selfishness, 
even  if  they  do  not  injure  any  rights  of  third  parties. 
The  English  Parliament  some  years  ago  ordered 
the  railway  companies,  not  only  to  attend  to  the 
safety  of  the  passengers,  but  also  to  allow  a  certain 
number  of  so-called  Parliamentary  trains,  to  run 
at  the  usual  rates  for  all  classes  of  carriages. 
Nobody  can  say  that  there  is  an  exceeding  of  the 
sensible  limits  of  the  State-power  in  this  law,  which 
makes  travelling  possible  for  the  lower  classes. 
But  if  you  see  in  the  State  merely  an  institution 
for  safety,  you  can  defend  the  measure  only  by 
means  of  very  artificial  and  unconvincing  argu- 
ment. For  who  has  a  right  to  demand  that  he 
should  be  carried  from  A  to  B  for  three  shillings? 
The  railway  company  has  certainly  no  monopoly 
by  law,  and  it  is  free  to  anyone  to  construct  a 
parallel  line!  No,  the  modern  State  cannot  do 


Freedom  327 

without  an  extensive  positive  activity  for  the 
people's  benefit.  In  every  nation  there  are  spirit- 
ual and  material  properties,  without  which  the 
State  cannot  exist.  A  constitutional  State  as- 
sumes a  high  average  of  national  culture;  it  may 
never  leave  it  to  the  pleasure  of  parents,  whether 
they  want  to  give  their  children  the  most  needful 
education;  it  requires  compulsory  education. 
The  sphere  of  these  benefits,  which  are  requisite 
for  the  community's  existence,  is  inevitably 
widened  by  the  growth  of  civilization.  Who  would 
seriously  propose  to  shut  up  the  precious  art 
institutions  in  our  States?  We  old  cultured 
nations  shall  certainly  not  relapse  into  the  crude 
conception  which  sees  a  luxury  in  art;  it  is  like 
our  daily  bread  to  us.  In  point  of  fact,  the  de- 
mand for  the  extremest  limitation  of  State-activity 
is  the  more  loudly  urged  in  theory  to-day,  the 
more  it  is  contradicted  by  practice,  even  in  free 
countries.  The  school  of  Tocqueville,  Labou- 
laye,  Charles  Dollfus,  grew  up  in  combat  with  an 
all-embracing  State-power  which  wanted,  not  to 
guide,  but  to  replace  society,  under  the  Second 
Empire;  a  school  which  goes  beyond  its  mark, 
and  discerns  in  the  State  simply  an  obstacle,  an 
oppressing  force.  Even  Mill  is  dominated  by  the 
opinion  that  the  greater  the  power  of  the  State, 
the  smaller  the  freedom.  The  State  however  is 
not  the  citizen's  foe.  England  is  free,  and  yet  the 
English  police  have  a  very  great  discretionary 
power  and  is  bound  to  have  it;  it  is  enough  if  a 


328  Treitschkc 

citizen   may  make  any  official  answerable  in  a 
law-court. 

Luckily,  another  historical  law  is  operating  in 
opposition  to  the  increasing  growth  of  State-power. 
In  proportion  as  the  citizens  become  riper  for 
self-government,  the  State  is  under  obligation, 
nay,  is  physically  obliged,  to  operate  in  a  more 
varied  way  so  far  as  comprehensiveness  is  con- 
cerned, but  more  moderately  so  far  as  method  is 
concerned.  If  the  immature  State  was  a  guarantee 
for  individual  branches  of  national  activity,  the 
guardianship  of  the  highly-developed  State  em- 
braces the  sum  total  of  national  life,  but  it  operates 
as  far  as  possible,  only  as  a  force  that  spurs  on, 
instructs,  clears  away  impediments.  A  mature 
people  must  therefore  demand  these  things  of  the 
State  for  the  assurance  of  its  personal  liberty: 
The  most  fruitful  outcome  of  the  metaphysical 
fights  for  freedom  during  the  past  century,  namely, 
the  truth  that  the  citizen  must  never  be  utilized 
by  the  State  merely  as  a  means,  should  be  recog- 
nized as  a  true  fundamental  principle.  Next: 
all  activity  on  the  part  of  the  government  is 
beneficial  which  brings  forth,  furthers,  purifies, 
the  individual  activity  of  the  citizens;  all  govern- 
ment activity  which  suppresses  the  activity  of  indi- 
viduals is  evil.  For  the  whole  dignity  of  the  State 
rests  ultimately  on  the  personal  worth  of  its  citi- 
zens, and  that  State  is  the  most  moral,  which 
combines  the  powers  of  the  citizens  for  the  purpose 
of  accomplishing  the  greatest  number  of  works 


Freedom  329 

beneficial  to  the  society,  and  yet  permits  each 
one,  honestly  and  independently,  to  pursue  his 
personal  development  untouched  by  compulsion 
on  the  part  of  the  State  and  public  opinion.  Thus 
we  agree  with  Mill  and  Laboulaye  in  the  final 
result:  in  the  desire  for  the  highest  possible  degree 
of  personal  liberty,  although  we  do  not  share 
their  view  of  the  State  as  an  obstacle  to  freedom. 

And  what  significance  do  these  reflections  on 
personal  liberty  possess  for  us?  The  presentiment 
of  a  great  and  decisive  movement  is  permeating 
the  world,  and  imposing  on  every  nation  the 
question,  what  value  it  puts  on  personal  freedom, 
on  the  personal  independence  of  its  citizens.  We 
Germans  in  particular  cannot  evade  the  question; 
we,  whose  whole  future  rests,  not  on  the  established 
power  of  all  our  States,  but  on  the  personal  thor- 
oughness of  our  people.  The  historical  facts  are 
dominant,  that  only  a  nation  which  is  imbued  with 
a  strong  sense  of  personal  freedom  can  win  and 
keep  political  freedom,  and  that  the  well-being 
or  real  personal  freedom  is  only  possible  under  the 
protection  of  political  freedom,  since  despotism, 
in  whatever  shape  it  may  appear,  is  able  to  give 
rein  only  to  the  lower  passions,  to  commerce,  and 
commonplace  ambition. 

The  most  precious  and  especial  possession  of 
our  nation,  which  will  yet  constitute  the  German 
State  a  new  phenomenon  in  political  history,  is 
the  Germans'  invincible  love  ot  personal  freedom. 
Many  will  smile  at  this,  and  put  the  bitter  question : 


330  Treitschke 

Where  are  the  fruits  of  this  love?  And  indeed 
we  redden  as  we  confront  that  stately  line  of 
legislative  measures  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
has  passed  for  its  personal  freedom.  Mill  is  far 
from  deifying  our  nation;  as  has  been  said  of  him 
with  some  justice,  he  inwardly  feels  his  near  kin- 
ship with  the  German  genius,  but  he  is  afraid  of 
the  weaknesses  of  our  temperament,  he  deliber- 
ately avoids  penetrating  too  deeply  into  German 
literature,  and  holds  to  French  novels.  And  the 
same  man  confesses  that  in  no  country  except  Ger- 
many alone,  are  people  capable  of  understanding 
and  aspiring  to  the  highest  and  purest  personal 
liberty,  the  all-sided  evolution  of  the  human 
spirit ! 

Our  science  is  the  freest  on  earth;  it  tolerates 
no  compulsion,  either  from  without  or  within; 
it  aims  at  the  truth,  nothing  but  the  truth,  with- 
out any  prejudice.  The  opinionativeness  of  our 
learned  men  became  a  by-word,  yet  it  goes  very 
well  together  with  a  frank  acknowledgment  of  an 
adversary's  scientific  importance.  A  free  mind, 
which  goes  its  own  way,  and  not  the  well-worn 
way  of  the  schools,  and  reaches  important  results, 
may,  with  certainty,  finally  count  upon  cordial 
agreement.  The  most  stupid  police  tutelage  did 
not  succeed  in  breaking  down  the  Germans' 
ardour  for  personal  idiosyncrasy.  It  is  a  convic- 
tion, which  has  taken  firm  root  in  the  lowest 
strata  of  our  nation,  that  in  all  questions  of  con- 
science every  man  must  decide  for  himself  alone. 


Freedom  331 

In  the  tiniest  States,  which  would  entirely  distort 
the  character  of  any  other  people,  the  ideal  of  free 
human  development  is  preached  to  the  youth, 
namely,  the  fearless  seeking  after  truth,  the  evolu- 
tion of  character  from  within  outwards,  the  har- 
monious growth  of  all  human  gifts.  And,  as 
freedom  and  toleration  necessarily  go  hand  in 
hand,  nowhere  is  the  tolerance  of  different  opinions 
so  much  at  home  as  with  us ;  we  learned  it  in  the 
hard  school  of  those  religious  wars,  which  this 
nation  fought  for  the  salvation  of  the  whole  of 
humanity.  Ours,  too,  is  the  noblest  blessing  of 
inward  freedom:  beautiful  moderation.  The  most 
daring  thoughts  about  the  highest  problems  which 
trouble  mankind  are  uttered  by  Germans.  Hu- 
man respect  for  everything  human  became  second 
nature  to  the  German. 

Let  nobody  believe  that  the  free  scientific  ac- 
tivity of  the  Germans  is  a  welcome  lightning- 
conductor  to  the  existing  State  authorities.  All 
intellectual  gains,  of  which  a  nation  can  be  proud, 
influence  the  State-life  as  one  pledge  more  for  its 
political  greatness.  We  are  slowly  proceeding 
from  intellectual  to  political  work,  as  Germany's 
recent  history  clearly  shows,  and  we  may  expect 
with  certainty  that  the  independent  courage  of 
German  learned  men  in  the  search  for  truth  will 
react  on  the  whole  nation.  Inclination,  and  ca- 
pacity for  self-government  are  abundant  among 
us.  Towns  like  Berlin  and  Leipzig  are  at  least 
on  level  terms  with  the  great  English  communities 


332 


Treitschke 


in  the  excellence  of  their  administration,  in  the 
common  feeling  dominating  their  inhabitants. 
And  how  much  natural  talent  and  inclination  for 
genuine  personal  liberty  dwell  in  our  Fourth  Estate 
is  revealed  more  clearly  every  year  in  the  trade 
unions. 

The  last  and  supreme  requisite  of  personal 
freedom  is  that  the  State  and  public  opinion  must 
allow  the  individual  to  develop  in  his  individual 
character,  both  in  thought  and  in  act.  What 
Mill  announces  to  his  fellow-countrymen  as  a 
new  thing,  has  long  been  common  property  in 
Germany,  namely  Humboldt's  doctrine  of  the 
"individuality  of  capacity  and  culture,"  of  the 
"highest  and  harmonious  evolution  of  all  capaci- 
ties," which  thrives  by  means  of  freedom  and 
multiplicity  of  situations,  that  unique  combination 
of  the  Platonic  sense  of  beauty  and  Kant's  severity, 
which  marks  the  zenith  of  German  humanity. 


J}  Selection  from  the 
Catalogue  of 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Complete  Catalogue  Sent 
on  application 


The  Real 
"Truth  About  Germany" 

From  the  English  Point  of  View 
By  Douglas  Sladen 

Author  of  "  Egypt  and  the  English,"  etc. 
With  an  Appendix 

Great  Britain  and  the  War 

By  A.  Maurice  Low,  M.A. 

Author  of  "  The  American  People,"  etc. 

300  pages,     12°,     Cloth,    $100 

Mr.  Sladen  has  taken  as  his  text  a  pamphlet  which,  while  not 
formally  published,  has  been  widely  circulated  in  the  United  States, 
entitled  The  Truth  About  Germany,  This  pamphlet  was  prepared 
in  Germany  under  the  supervision  of  a  Committee  of  Repre- 
sentative Germans,  and  may  fairly  be  described  as  the  "official 
justification  of  the  War."  Care  has  been  taken  to  prevent  copies 
from  finding  their  way  into  England,  which  has  caused  Mr.  Sladen 
to  describe  the  pamphlet  as  The  Secret  White  Paper.  He  has  taken 
up  one  by  one  the  statements  of  the  German  writers,  and  has 
shown  how  little  foundation  most  of  these  statements  have  and 
how  misleading  are  others  which  contain  some  element  of  truth. 
In  answering  the  German  statements,  Mr.  Sladen  has  naturally 
taken  the  opportunity  to  state  clearly  the  case  of  England.  England 
claims  that  it  was  impossible  to  avoid  going  into  this  struggle  if 
it  was  to  keep  faith  with  and  fulfill  its  obligations  to  Belgium 
and  Luxemburg.  Apart  from  this  duty,  it  is  the  conviction  of 
England,  that  it  is  fighting  not  only  in  fulfillment  of  obligations 
and  to  prevent  France  from  being  crushed  for  a  second  time,  but 
for  self-preservation.  The  German  threat  has  been  made  openly 
"  first  Paris,  then  London." 

In  order  that  the  case  for  England  may  be  complete,  the  pub- 
lishers have  added  an  essay  by  the  well-known  historian,  A.  Maurice 
Low.  As  the  title,  Great  Britain  and  the  War,  indicates,  England's 
attitude  toward  the  great  conflict  is  clearly  portrayed,  and  her 
reasons  for  joining  therein  are  ably  presented. 

New  York         G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons  London 


WHO  IS 
RESPONSIBLE? 

Armageddon  and  After! 


Cloudesley  Brereton 

76/770.     Cloth.     50  cents 

A  monograph  by  one  of  the  educational 
leaders  of  England,  which  undertakes  to 
show  how  Prussian  tradition,  starting 
with  Frederick  the  Great,  has  succeeded 
hi  corrupting  the  Germany  of  to-day. 
The  author  takes  the  ground  that  the 
issue  of  the  present  struggle  may  be  a 
great  spiritual  renascence  or  it  may  be 
the  domination  of  the  Huns. 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


France  Herself  Again 

By  the  Abbe  Ernest  Dimnet 

5°.     About  400  pages.     $250 

This  is  an  authoritative  work  by  an  author 
who  has  gained  well-earned  fame  as  a  historian. 
The  purpose  and  general  character  of  the  book, 
which  compares  the  demoralized  France  of  1870 
with  the  united  France  of  to-day,  may  be  seen 
by  the  chapter  headings. 

Introductory :  The  Object  of  the  Book 

Part  I.    The  Deterioration  of  France 

1.  Under  the  Second  Empire 

2.  Under  the  Third  Republic 

Part  II.    Tho  Return  of  the  Light 

1.  Immediate  Consequences  of  the  Tan- 

gier Incident 

2.  Intellectual  Preparation  of  the   New 

Spirit 

3.  Evidences  of  the  New  Spirit 

Part  III.    The  Political  Problems  and  the 
Future 

Part  IV.    France  and  the  War  of  1914 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


The  Evidence  in 
the  Case 

In    the    Supreme    Court    of 
Civilization 

The  Case  of  The  Dual  Alliance  vs,  The  Triple  Entente 

By 
James  M.  Beck 

Late  Assistant  Attorney-General  of  the  U.  S. 
72°.     $1.00 

In  this  volume  the  scholarly  author  sums  up, 
speaking  as  a  judge  in  a  world's  court  of  abso- 
lute impartiality,  the  causation  of  the  present 
European  War  and  the  relative  responsibilities 
of  the  nations  that  are  parties  to  the  War.  The 
author's  verdict  is  based  upon  the  official  docu- 
ments in  the  case,  and  these  documents  are 
presented  in  the  original  text  as  an  appendix  to 
the  argument. 

G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


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